


Words Like Silent Raindrops

by mandeebobandee



Series: Hogwarts Havoc [7]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2019-12-30 12:47:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 40
Words: 43,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18315548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mandeebobandee/pseuds/mandeebobandee
Summary: Some of the gang are done with Hogwarts! As the group will soon discover, however, it isn't always that easy to let go of the past.





	1. Chapter 1

Virgil closed his eyes, concentrating on the other side of the bedroom.  
  
_Destination. Determination. Deliberation,_  he thought to himself. It was all a matter of concentration. He could do this. He'd performed other spells that required deliberation before. Granted,  _those_  spells didn't invoke a risk of losing a  _limb_  if performed wrong.  
  
...but he had to learn to do it. He wasn't going to let the  _others_ continue to operate at increased risk to their own limbs by taking him along using Side-Along Apparition. Logan continued to insist that it wasn't Virgil's fault, but Virgil still felt as though he'd distracted Logan from carrying out the task at hand successfully - and Distraction was  _not_  one of the Three Ds of Apparition.  
  
Though given his current state, it certainly would have helped Virgil's cause at this point in time if it was.  
  
Virgil opened his eyes and stared at a point next to the doorway. He closed his eyes, picturing that spot in his mind. He took a deep breath, trying to put as much of his focus as he could. He needed to go to that spot. When he next opened his eyes, he would be in that spot. He began to turn where he stood-  
  
_"Virgil?"_  
  
Virgil lost his footing in his surprise and landed butt first on the ground. He turned to the doorway at once, watching as his boyfriend began to stride forward.  
  
_"I apologize, Virgil,"_  Logan told him.  _"I should have knocked before entering."_  
  
Virgil pulled out his pen and paper and scribbled out a quick message.  _Still would have ended with me falling on my ass._  
  
_"I suppose,"_  Logan conceded.  _What were you doing, if I may ask?_  
  
Virgil gestured to Logan's old notes from Apparition class, which lay open on the desk.  
  
_"You're still trying to practice Apparition, aren't you? Any luck?"_ Logan asked.  
  
Virgil let out a low snort and shook his head.  _As if,_  he jotted out in reply.  
  
_"You'll succeed,"_  Logan assured him.  _"You just have to keep practicing."_    
  
He knew that Logan was probably right, but it was hard to keep with that line of thought when he had yet to Apparate even a few feet. He realized it might have been easier had he actually attended the Apparition classes offered by Hogwarts and not chickened out after the first lesson.   
  
The fact that he'd still have to go to an examination by Ministry proctors to officially receive his Apparition license regardless of how many times he successfully Apparated on his own didn't work wonders on his nerves either.   
  
Virgil stuffed his pen and paper back into his pocket while he pushed himself to his feet. This was something that was far easier to accomplish when one had both hands at their disposal than it was to do one-handed. Once he was standing, Virgil retrieved his pen and paper and jotted something out to Logan.  _What time are we supposed to be at King's Cross again today?_  
  
_"4pm. Do you want me to write it down for you? This is the third time you have asked,"_  Logan replied.  
  
_I just want to make sure we're there at the right time,_  Virgil replied.  
  
_"We will be,"_  Logan assured him with a small smile, though Virgil that it was one that did not quite reach his eyes.  
  
It was the end of the school year for Elliott, Shane, and Paige - they were finished with their seventh year of Hogwarts, and the rest of the gang agreed to meet them at Kings Cross to celebrate the occasion. It was the first time the lot of them would be getting together outside of Diagon Alley in months.  
  
_"Oh, I'm sure it won't be awkward in the least to see them, knowing that you could have been departing the Hogwarts Express alongside them,"_  a new voice entered the conversation.  
  
Virgil and Logan turned to look at Deceit, who was standing in the doorway where Logan was a few minutes prior.  
  
Logan's entire body tensed up, including his hands, which temporarily balled into fists before relaxing slightly.  _"I don't recall anyone asking you,"_  he said, turning to Deceit with a cool expression on his face.  
  
_"What?"_  Deceit shrugged.  _"It's not just an observation."_  
  
It did bother Virgil, to some extent, that he would not be graduating Hogwarts at the proper time for a young man his age - but to Virgil, at least, there was a slight advantage. It put off the inevitable - the moment where he'd have to decide what he wanted to do after Hogwarts, the moment where the  _others_ would...and what if all of that meant that he would lose touch with some of his closest friends?  
  
At the same time, turning nineteen just a few months into his repeat of seventh year would probably attract some unwanted attention, and he wasn't a particular fan of that.  
  
None of that compared to how all of this was affecting Logan, however, and it was  _this_  that threw Virgil on the defense in response to Deceit's words more than anything else.  
  
Virgil knew he wasn't imagining it - Logan had been abnormally quiet over the past few days, ever since they'd made plans to meet up at Kings Cross. And the way Logan tensed up when Deceit brought up the subject was all the proof Virgil needed that his suspicions were correct.  _Logan_  wanted to be graduating alongside them. He was supposed to be graduating alongside them. They all were. But Logan was taking their absence from school worse than the rest of them.  
  
_"Don't let me ruin your fun though. I'm sure everything will go absolutely swimmingly when you meet up with your friends later on,"_  Deceit called out in a teasing tone, making his way back toward his bedroom.  
  
_"Don't pay any heed to that snake, Virgil. We are going to meet up with Elliott, Shane, and Paige at King's Cross, and we are going to enjoy ourselves to the very best of our ability,"_  Logan announced, an edge to his voice.   
  
Virgil frowned, recognizing the anger in Logan's tone, and knowing that Logan was still reeling from Deceit's words. But had Deceit said anything that Logan wasn't already saying to himself? Listening closer to Logan's words, there was a certain stubbornness in them, a stubbornness that told Virgil that Logan had every intent to do  _just that_ , to resolve to enjoy their reunion with Elliott, Shane, and Paige in spite of what Deceit said.  
  
Knowing what he knew of Deceit's behavior as of late, he could not help but wonder if perhaps that was his brother's goal all along...


	2. Chapter 2

Virgil never did like Kings Cross much. Why did Platform 9 3/4 have to exist in one of the busiest railway stations in the United Kingdom? Once he made it to Platform 9 3/4 itself he was usually fine, but  _making_  it there was another story.  
  
Virgil had his hood up over his head as he held tightly to Logan's hand. They weaved their way in and out of the crowd, Virgil looking down and trying to make himself seem as small as possible - A difficult task for someone who stood at a full height of 6 feet tall.  
  
Were Virgil able to talk intelligibly, he would have hissed at Logan to slow down, but he couldn't - and thus he just  _hissed_ in Logan's ear. Loudly.  
  
Logan paused and looked back at him with a raised eyebrow.  _"Did you just hiss at me?"_  
  
 _Slow down,_  Virgil mouthed. He wouldn't trust mouthing words for longer statements, but for this? He figured Logan could read his lips, especially since it was loud and crowded anyway. Even if he  _could_  talk, the chances that Logan would mishear him in the crowd were higher than average anyway.  
  
Logan did as Virgil instructed, still trying to navigate through the crowd but at a more reasonable rate of speed. Virgil let out a sigh of relief when they finally reached that familiar wall between Platforms 9 and 10.   
  
Virgil never  _did_  like how the entrance to Platform 9 3/4 was set up. You were literally supposed to  _run_  at a wall and hope for the best. Of course, running through the wall always led to Platform 9 3/4, but what if one of these times it didn't? Were there times when the magic did not work?   
  
He recalled these same fears circling through his head at age eleven - Only back then he did not have prior knowledge to fall back on. He'd never been to Platform 9 3/4 before that point, Linus having seen Lionel off to Hogwarts himself the year prior while Renilda stayed home with Virgil.   
  
He'd been so afraid that he would run at the wall and would bounce back, and not only would all of the Muggles at the station look at him strangely, but his father would look at him with disdain and hiss that Virgil wasn't a real wizard, that this was proof positive that he was a  _squib_...  
  
 _Okay, but you've been through this wall several times before, Virge, it's not like you're suddenly going to become a squib out of the blue at age eighteen,_  Virgil thought with a mental roll of his eyes.  
  
 _"Why are you rolling your eyes?"_  Logan asked.  
  
...oh, he'd actually rolled his eyes externally? Oops.  
  
Virgil shrugged. Logan glanced at the wall in front of them.  _"I still question the logic of building the entrance to Platform 9 3/4 here instead of some place more accommodating to the populace it services, such as Diagon Alley,"_  he muttered.  
  
Virgil could not help but let out a snort. Logan had a point, but the conviction with which Logan stated it still made Virgil chuckle.  
  
 _"Anyway, I suppose we best be on our way,"_  Logan sighed and stepped through the wall without a second thought.  
  
Virgil, on the other hand, did what he had to do  _every_  time he stood face to face with the wall between platforms 9 and 10 from his first time at age eleven, something that led to both his brother and father laughing at him upon seeing it - he closed his eyes and stepped through cautiously, letting out a sigh of relief when the portal inevitably worked the way that it always had and probably always would.  
  
 _"Are you alright?"_  Logan asked, eyeing him curiously.  
  
He realized he'd never actually stepped through the barrier with Logan before, and thus he didn't know of Virgil's odd habit. Virgil sent a quick nod Logan's way.  
  
Logan returned the nod.  _"Suppose we should start looking for the others, then."_    
  
This time, Virgil and Logan walked side-by-side as they remained hand in hand. Platform 9 3/4 was still crowded, but less so than Kings Cross, and Virgil found that he could breathe easier - Especially now that the hardest part of the journey was over, in his opinion.

 _"Virgil! Logan!"_  Virgil heard Patton shout. He grinned. Leave it to Patton to make sure that they wouldn't have to wander for long.  
  
Virgil's eyes quickly scanned the crowd.  _"There,"_  Logan stated, and pointed across the platform.   
  
Virgil followed Logan's finger and spotted not only Patton but Roman, who were both waving at them excitedly from across the platform. Virgil and Logan made their way over.  
  
Patton was practically bouncing up and down. Roman held a large, folded up piece of posterboard at his side.  
  
 _"...may I ask what that is?"_  Logan asked, pointing to it.  
  
 _"You can, but that doesn't mean I have to answer!"_  Roman teased.   
  
Logan sighed and rubbed at the bridge of his nose.  
  
 _"I was kidding, Specs. It's a welcome home poster!"_  Roman beamed.  _"Wanna see it?"_  
  
 _"I have a feeling you're going to show it to me whether I wish to see it or not, so sure, show me,"_  Logan replied.  
  
Virgil gaped. Not only was the poster both  _huge_  and  _colorful_ , but it was enchanted so that the fireworks that Roman drew onto the paper were coming off of the paper and exploding in mid-air in front of the poster itself. One such firework actually jumped off of the poster and flew several feet into the air before popping, causing a few in the vicinity to glance over in surprise. Virgil hunched into his hoodie a little more.  
  
 _"Oops, I might have to tone down the enchantment a little bit, it's not supposed to jump out more than a couple of feet from the poster,"_  Roman grinned sheepishly, turning his attention back to the poster in hand as he waved his wand, muttering something.  
  
 _"Let me guess Roman, that was your poster causing all of that ruckus?"_  Era's voice announced from behind them, followed by a snicker.  
  
Virgil and the others turned to look at Era, who was accompanied by Chelsea and Astrit.   
  
 _"It wasn't a ruckus! It was art!"_  Roman protested as he cast another enchantment on his poster.  
  
 _"Can't it be both?"_  Astrit reasoned.  
  
Virgil chuckled and shook his head. Everyone was feeling a little bit giddy in light of the situation, even Virgil. Soon Elliott, Shane, and Paige would be with them!  
  
 _"Roman, the corner of your poster is on fire,"_  Logan announced helpfully.  
  
 _"GAAH, NOOO!"_  
  
...provided Roman didn't burn down Platform 9 3/4 first.


	3. Chapter 3

Virgil glanced at Logan's watch. It was 4:30pm.  
  
_"Shouldn't they be here by now?"_  Chelsea wondered, voicing the very sentiment on Virgil's mind.  
  
_"They may have gotten held up?"_  Astrit suggested.  _"If not everyone at the school was on the train in time..."_  
  
Virgil sighed, blowing an extra long piece of hair out of his face. The sooner they got out of here the better. The longer they waited, the more his imagination started to get carried away. The train could have been robbed or crashed or any  _number_  of unsettling things.  
  
_"Oooh, here it comes!"_  Patton called out excitedly.  
  
...or, as Astrit suggested, they could have gotten held up at the school.  
  
Virgil let out an almost inaudible sigh of relief as the train, at first barely visible on the horizon, approached the station. The closer the train grew, the more the crowd buzzed. By the time the train pulled into the station, the volume was at a dull roar.  
  
Patton and Roman ran ahead. Chelsea very nearly did as well, but lingered behind when she saw that Era had no intent to sprint forward.   
  
_"No reason to get lost in the crowd. They'll probably spot us easier here,"_  Era suggested.  
  
_"I concur,"_  Logan replied.  
  
As it turned out, Paige found them in relatively little time, and went running up to Era at once, throwing her arms around her best friend. She greeted Chelsea with similar vigor.  
  
_"No ring? Darn, I was hoping the two of you would be engaged by now!"_  Paige announced.  
  
_"What?!"_  Chelsea spluttered.  
  
_"I don't...I don't know if we're quite ready..."_  Era stammered, growing increasingly red.  
  
Paige laughed.  _"I was kidding! Well, sorta...I do think you two would make great wives for one another."_  
  
Chelsea and Era both blushed at that.  
  
_"Astrit, you've grown so much taller!"_  Paige called out to her best friend's younger brother, pulling him into her arms for an embrace as well. Astrit grinned and returned the gesture.  
  
_"Hey Virgil, hey Logan! How are things with you two? I was half expecting to see rings on your fingers too!"_  Paige told them.  
  
_"Those two? As if. They'll be fifty by the time either of them works up the courage to make the first move,"_  Chelsea jested.  
  
_"I assure you, it will not take that long,"_  Logan remarked.  _"Though I do desire to finish school before taking such a life-altering step."_  
  
_"Virgil! Logan! Look who we found!"_  Virgil heard Patton shout from his right.  
  
Virgil turned to see Patton and Roman approaching, accompanied by a grinning Shane and a frazzled looking Elliott.  
  
_"Oh I'm so glad to have that chapter of my life behind me!"_ Shane announced.  _"Now I just have to figure out this grand mystery called 'adulting'."_  
  
Virgil could not help but let out a snort at that.

 _"I'm just glad to have NEWTs behind me,"_  Elliott confessed with a roll of their eyes.  
  
Virgil saw Logan tense ever so slightly out of the corner of his eye.   
  
_"You guys are going back next year, aren't you?"_  Shane asked, clearly unaware of what Virgil just observed.  
  
_"Of course,"_  Logan replied with no hesitation.  _"I would have graduated this year, but my NEWT performance would have suffered with the amount of schooling I missed and I really would like to achieve the highest score that I am personally capable of. My career depends on it, after all."_  
  
_"Not always,"_  Roman countered.  _"Some jobs you don't even need NEWTs for."_  
  
_"I do not intend to enter a career that does not require a certain score on one's NEWTs, so it is a moot point where I personally am concerned,"_  Logan assured him.  
  
_"How do you think you guys did on your NEWTs?"_  Era asked Elliott, Shane, and Paige.  
  
_"I think I did decent in most of my NEWTs..at least an A or E in most of them, I hope,"_  Paige crossed her fingers and briefly closed her eyes, as if attempting to will her hopes into reality.

 _"Probably flunked them all,"_  Elliott said with a shrug.  
  
_"Oh no!"_  Patton gasped, looking utterly devastated - or, at the very least, much more upset than Elliott themself looked.  
  
_"Nah. Just means I won't follow in the amazing Chad's footsteps. No real loss there,"_  they said with a chuckle.  
  
_"Do you really believe that you...you failed all of your NEWTs?"_ Logan paled upon saying that. Virgil frowned. Even the mere  _thought_  of  _someone else_  failing their NEWTs was affecting Logan that badly?  
  
_"Course not,"_  Elliott replied, and Logan heaved a massive sigh of relief.  _"I don't think I did particularly great on some of 'em, but Potions? Piece of cake."_  
  
_"I really don't know how I did. I think I tried to block it from my memory,"_  Shane admitted.

 _"That bad?"_  Astrit raised an eyebrow.  
  
_"...well, I had to go to the Hospital Wing in the middle of one of them because I felt like my heart was going to come out of my chest,"_  Shane sighed.  
  
_Panic attack?_  Virgil asked.  
  
Shane shrugged.  _"Maybe? I mean, I didn't think I cared that much about NEWTs but they just kept going on and on about how much our futures depend on them and...crap, how is that supposed to make us feel any better?"_

 _ _"I'm just glad that's all over with,"_  _Elliott admitted. _  
  
_"No need to rub it in,"_  _Chelsea retorted. _  
  
_"You guys'll get there soon enough!"_  _Paige said encouragingly. _  
  
_"I certainly hope so,"_  _Logan muttered. _  
  
_"You guys have any plans for tonight?"_  _Shane wondered.  
 _  
_"We didn't have anything in particular in mind..."_  _Patton admitted. "We figured you guys would want to rest up as soon as you got back!" _  
  
_"Maybe later, but not right away! We should do something fun, to celebrate!"_  _Shane beamed. _  
  
_Virgil sighed, wondering what they could even do on such short notice. The thought of them setting out to do something only for their plans to be ruined once they got there was already working it's way into Virgil's mind. Most good things with such a large group of people required careful planning, and this was the opposite of that. All they knew was that Elliott, Shane, and Paige would be staying in London for the next week before going back to see their families. _  
  
_"I think I have an idea,"_  _Roman said with a grin. __"One that even the wallflowers among us may enjoy..."__  
  
Virgil could not help but notice that Roman was looking in his and Logan's direction as he said this.  
  
Virgil huffed. Fine. He'd give it a chance, mostly because he was curious. But if it ended up backfiring in their face? Roman was going to get an earful.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this went up kinda late today...it was a stressful/busy day at work and I had a shortened lunch so I was more focused on scarfing my food down than getting this posted on my lunch break like I usually do. But it's up now!

They didn't have to travel very far.  
  
_"It's in London,"_  Roman assured them.  
  
_"Yes, but where in London?"_  Logan inquired.  
  
_"I believe its another several blocks this way-"_  Roman began, only to be interrupted by Logan.  
  
_"I meant wizarding London or Muggle London,"_  Logan hissed.  
  
_"Oh. Why didn't you just ask that, then?"_  Roman inquired.  
  
_"I did, I ask where in London our destination was located,"_  Logan countered.  
  
_"And I answered that question!"_  Roman protested.  
  
Chelsea and Era both chuckled at this ridiculous argument. Elliott watched with their eyebrow raised. Shane was grinning in amusement, as were Paige and Astrit by the looks of it. Patton looked as if he were trying to keep a neutral expression. And Virgil was biting down on his lip and gazing downward, trying to stop himself from laughing at how ridiculous this was.  
  
_"Anyway, to answer your question, it is both,"_  Roman remarked, turning to Logan.  
  
_"...both?"_  Era raised an eyebrow.  
  
_"How can it be located in both wizarding London and Muggle London?"_  Paige wondered.  
  
_"Its located in Muggle London but it's a wizarding establishment! Though I think Muggles have their own version of this...Patton?"_  Roman turned to Patton and whispered something into his ear.   
  
Patton broke out into a grin.  _"Oh Roman, that's a fantastic idea! I love it! And yes, Muggles have them too, but I imagine a wizarding one is even neater!"_  
  
_"You've been to such an establishment before?"_  Logan inquired.  
  
_"Yup! Went to one on a school trip when I was younger!"_  Patton replied.

 _"...you're not going to tell us where we're going, are you?"_  Elliott folded their arms across their chest with a smirk.  
  
_"Nope!"_  Patton told them.  _"Roman wants to keep it a surprise and I am a man of my word! I can tell you this, though - You guys are gonna love it!"_  
  
Virgil wondered if that would really be the case. Clearly it was a location that Patton visited in the past and enjoyed, but would it truly be a place that all of them could enjoy?  
  
And just how much farther did they have to go?

 _"Do keep in mind that this will probably be a tad different than the Muggle one you visited, dearest,"_  Roman reminded Patton.  
  
_"I wonder if Logan's gone to a Muggle one too?"_  Patton voiced.  
  
_"Alright, now you two are just taunting us,"_  Era rolled her eyes.  
  
_"Did we ever say that we weren't?"_  Roman replied with a mischievous grin.  
  
_"But seriously, I bet Logan has visited one too!"_  Patton reiterated.  
  
_"If you are not going to inform me where we are going, I prefer that you refrain from discussing such matters in front of me,"_  Logan huffed.  
  
_"Ok, but I can tell you that you're gonna love it!"_  Patton declared.  
  
The group continued on their way, Roman and Patton remaining frustratingly mum as to where they were actually headed. Surprises weren't  _always_  bad, and this one seemed like it would be a good one, but Virgil had no way of knowing for certain before they arrived - and that put him on edge.

 _"Did they do anything special for you guys for leaving Hogwarts?"_  Astrit asked Paige, who was walking alongside his closest sister and thus the closest Hogwarts graduate in proximity to him.  
  
_"NEWTs were kinda the main event, but they did have a special feast for just the 7th years a couple of nights ago,"_  Paige explained.  
  
_"How was it different from the regular Hogwarts feast?"_  Chelsea asked.  
  
_"The food was fancier,"_  Shane explained.  
  
_"It was also a lot less crowded, since it was just for seventh years and the rest of the school went to the dinner feast like usual,"_  Elliott elaborated.  _"So the seventh years had the Great Hall all to ourselves."_  
  
_"Did you guys get to stay the night in the Great Hall?"_  Patton wondered. __  
  
Elliott raised an eyebrow. __"Why would we do that?"__  
  
Patton shrugged. __"Just seems like it would be a fun thing to do! A big old inter-house slumber party on one of your last days at Hogwarts!"__  He smiled at the thought.

 _"It's certainly an idea - perhaps you should suggest that to the powers that be, Patton,"_  Roman smiled, squeezing Patton's hand.  
  
Patton beamed.  _"Maybe I will!"_  
  
_"Anyway, it was kinda nice. They got rid of all of the house tables and just made one big one,"_ Paige explained.  
  
_"Wouldn't that take a while to clear out and move back in?"_  Patton pointed out.  
  
_"Not with magic I'd expect,"_  Shane grinned.  
  
A feast with all other seventh years didn't sound so bad - no worse than any meal at Hogwarts, and arguably better since there would be fewer students overall in the Great Hall during a feast for only one-seventh of the students at the school.  
  
He wasn't abjectly against Patton's idea. It sounded great - For people like  _Patton_ , who thrived off of that sort of thing. Virgil preferred quieter, calmer areas to sleep, and he knew he'd have a hard time sleeping in a room packed full of other students - even if it  _was_  only one-seventh of the school.   
  
He did not voice this, however, out of fear that it would bring Patton down - the last thing he wanted to do when Patton looked so proud of himself.  
  
_"Y'know, even if it isn't a school sponsored thing, what's to say we can't still do it?"_  Era grinned.

 _"Elaborate,"_  Logan stated.  
  
_"We could have our own sleepover, in the room we held all of our meetings in,"_  Era proposed.  
  
_"That's a fantastic idea!"_  Patton beamed.  
  
_"Hey, what about us?"_  Shane pouted.  
  
_"You're out of Hogwarts. You three can get together whenever you want,"_  Chelsea teased.  
  
_"You mean like the rest of you have while we've been at Hogwarts this term?"_  Elliott countered.  
  
_"...touche,"_  Chelsea admitted.  
  
_"Heads up guys, gals, and non-binary pals!"_  Roman called out from the front of the group.  _"We're heeeeere!"_  Roman sung out.  _"We just have to step through this barrier here and...tada! Visible to witches and wizards of all ages!"_  
  
Virgil ambled through the barrier with the rest of the group, then glanced to see what Roman was so excited about. He was greeted by the sight of large building with a huge telescope at the top of it. He heard Logan gasp next to him.  
  
_The Stella Stockett Wizarding Planetarium_


	5. Chapter 5

Virgil's gaze immediately shot over to Logan, who had his hands over his mouth. His eyes looked almost watery.  _"It's the most beautiful thing I've ever laid eyes on."_  
  
Virgil huffed and rolled his eyes.  
  
_"I said most beautiful thing. You're still the most beautiful person,"_  Logan informed him, the corners of his mouth twitching upward.  
  
Now that they were standing still, Virgil could remove his pad and pen from his pocket. He quickly scribbled something to Logan.  
  
_Sounds fake but okay,_  Virgil showed Logan with another roll of his eyes, yet offered a half smirk in return.

 _"See, told you the two of you would like it,"_  Roman taunted.  
  
_"It certainly is more acceptable than some of the other options I envisioned you choosing,"_  Logan retorted.  
  
_"'Acceptable?' You just referred to the building as the most beautiful thing you've ever seen, second only to the most beautiful person you've ever seen - Your boyfriend of two years, Virgil,"_  Roman argued back.  
  
_"Are we actually going to go into the place or are we just going to stand out here arguing the whole time? Cause if it's the latter, we could have just done that back in Diagon Alley,"_  Elliott remarked.  
  
_"I think that's our cue to go inside,"_  Patton said in a hushed tone.  
  
The group made their way into the building. Everyone glanced around, but none looked so enraptured as Logan.  
  
_"See? This already looks way better than those Muggle planetariums, doesn't it Logan?"_  Patton called out to him.  
  
_"I wouldn't know, I've never visited a Muggle planetarium,"_  Logan admitted.  
  
_"Wait, what?"_  Shane blurted out in surprise.  
  
_"Seriously? Do my ears deceive me? You of all people have never been to a Muggle planetarium?"_  Roman spun around at once, gaping at Logan.  
  
Virgil jotted out a reply as fast as he could on his pad and turned it for Roman to see.  _Lay off him,_  Virgil narrowed his eyes slightly.  
  
_"Sheesh, I was just teasing him,"_  Roman held his hands up in mock surrender, but  _did_  lay off Logan, so Virgil supposed he should count it as a victory.  
  
_"So how would a wizarding planetarium differ from a Muggle planetarium?"_  Paige asked with a note of skepticism in her tone.  _"I wouldn't think it would be that much different - A lot of what we learn in Astronomy Muggles learn in their own Astronomy classes."_  
  
_"Only wizards are allowed in this planetarium,"_  Roman replied.  
  
_"...and?"_  Era made a motion with her hands to tell Roman to keep going.  
  
_"And that means we're free to use our magic and don't have to worry about Muggles seeing it!"_  Roman announced.  
  
_"...hope that's not the only attraction that sets them apart from their competition,"_  Chelsea snorted.  
  
Virgil didn't particularly care - He'd never been to a planetarium before, so he wouldn't know how they would compare. Logan didn't seem to care much either; in fact, he seemed far less concerned with the conversation at hand and more concerned with taking in everything that he could gets his eyes on.  
  
_"According to this, there is a show at 8pm. Maybe we can check out some of these other activities they have while we wait?"_ Astrit suggested.  
  
_"I want to do it all,"_  Logan grinned.  
  
_"Of course you do. Nerd,"_  Roman teased.  
  
Logan rolled his eyes, but did not seem too bothered by Roman's teasing this time around.  _"It appears that they do have an observation deck upstairs that allows you to peer through your own telescope or borrow one owned by the planetarium to peruse the skies. I would rather like to do that at some point."_  
  
_"...so wait, it's like Astronomy class for school? For fun?"_  Shane blinked.  
  
_"A lot of things can be fun if they're not for school. I've never liked doing the reading for school much, but I love to read in general,"_  Chelsea reasoned.  
  
_"It is a lot more pleasing to look through a telescope when you do not have a professor telling you what you should and should not look at all times. You get to decide what you want to look at, and there are some very interesting sights in outer space,"_ Logan added.  _"Of course, the telescopes we look through in class pale in comparison to some of the more professional Muggle telescopes and, I'd hazard a guess, some of the fancier magic telescopes as well,"_  he shrugged.

 _"So what's the plan?"_  Paige asked.  
  
 _"We split up and do what we want, then meet back here for the main show around 7:30 so we can go into the planetarium when seating opens and get good seats?"_  Chelsea proposed.  
  
 _"Sounds like a plan. Well, I think Pat and I are going to check out the gift shop if anyone wants to join us,"_  Roman announced. He and Patton made their way toward the gift shop. Shane, Chelsea, and Era were not far behind.

Virgil turned to Logan.  
  
 _"What would you like to do, Virgil?"_  Logan asked him.  
  
Virgil blinked in surprise at that.  _I thought you would have had something that you'd want to do._  
  
 _"I want to do it all,"_  Logan admitted, eyes shining.  
  
Virgil snickered.  
  
 _"I will admit, though, that this brochure stated that they have a large orrery operated through magic a few rooms down the hall - I would like to see that,"_  he continued.  
  
 _You got it, Lo,_  Virgil wrote, then realized he ought to get one question out of the way first.  _What exactly is an orrery?_  
  
Logan chuckled.  _"I figured. An orrery is a mechanical model of the solar system - my mother purchased me a Muggle version shortly before I entered Hogwarts, though it was of course a lot smaller- and did not utilize any magic. I am curious to see what improvements will be added through the use of magic, if any. It is such an interesting device, however, that I feel you will enjoy it regardless of whether they improve it through magic or leave it the way it is."_  
  
Listening to Logan talk at length about space was...well, honestly, it was inspiring. Virgil could hear the passion in Logan's words, how much he genuinely enjoyed the subject of space - and as someone who had a sizable interest in space as well, it wasn't hard to find himself hanging off of every word.  
  
Not to mention Logan rarely allowed himself to show this much passion so...it was  _nice_ , seeing Logan let go for once. Especially after the tension Virgil could see rolling off of him earlier in the day.  
  
Virgil would have to thank Roman later on.

For now, he had an orrery to check out.


	6. Chapter 6

The orrery  _was_  pretty neat, it turned out.  
  
The use of magic meant that it wasn't mechanical, but rather all of the parts moved on their own with the use of magic. Each of the planets turned on their own axis while simultaneously orbiting the model of the sun in what Virgil assumed was a down-to-scale representation of the actual planets and the times it took them to orbit the sun.  
  
And, as the model was large enough to take up most of the room, it allowed for more details.  
  
 _"Look, they've included the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter! They also have all of Jupiter's moons - they have all of the planets' moons, in fact! As well as some of the more well known Kuiper Belt objects...this is stunning,"_  Logan took a few more steps forward.  
  
 _I take it most orreries don't go into that much detail?_  Virgil wrote in reply, tapping Logan on the shoulder so that he would look to see what Virgil wrote - otherwise Virgil didn't think Logan would even spare him a second glance, he was so enraptured by the orrery itself.  
  
Logan shook his head.  _"Not typically, though it is important to bear in mind that Muggle orreries use mechnical parts to move in a fashion similar to what we are seeing - and I'm sure you understand where that would complicate matters."_  
  
Virgil nodded in response.  
  
 _"I wonder if they have smaller scale models in the gift shop. I think I might purchase one if they do. Shall we?"_  Logan gestured toward the door.  
  
Virgil recognized the signal and headed back out to the main lobby alongside Logan.  
  
They headed to the gift shop, where Roman and Patton still remained.   
  
 _"Virgil! Logan! You won't believe what I just saw?"_  Roman called out to them.  
  
Virgil and Logan approached more closely.  
  
 _"What did you see, Roman?"_  Logan asked curiously.  
  
 _"I saw Uranus!"_  Roman announced, then burst into laughter.  
  
 _"That's..."_  Logan let out a heavy sigh as he squeezed the bridge of his nose above his glasses.  _"Very well, Roman, that's very lovely."_  
  
 _"I thought so too!"_  Roman replied once he regained his composure, though a few chuckles still managed to escape.  
  
 _"What're you guys doing in here? I thought you were checking out the orries?"_  Patton asked.  
  
 _"They're called 'orreries', and we did. I was hoping that they might have a smaller model that I could purchase for future use,"_  Logan shrugged.  
  
 _"Don't you already have a ton of space stuff?"_  Roman snorted.  
  
 _"One can never have too many space-related items,"_  Logan replied casually as he began to dig through a bargain bin.  
  
 _"Something tells me you won't find an orrerry in there,"_  Patton snickered.  
  
 _"Probably not, but I may still find something of interest in here,"_  he noted.

Logan really  _was_  in higher spirits than he was earlier in the day. While Patton help Logan look for a miniature orrery, Virgil took Roman aside.  
  
 _Thanks,_  Virgil wrote.  
  
 _"Whatever for?"_  Roman wondered.  
  
 _For taking us here,_  Virgil explained.  _Logan really loves it._    
  
Roman snickered.  _"I figured he might. I saw an ad for it a few days ago and it screamed 'Logan Dicax' to me."_  
  
 _Yeah, he really needed this today,_  Virgil responded.  
  
 _"What do you mean?"_  Roman blinked in confusion.  
  
 _He wasn't happy that he wasn't graduating with Paige, Elliott, and Shane today,_  Virgil elaborated.  
  
 _"But those were circumstances outside of his control!"_  Roman protested.

 _Doesn't mean it didn't bother him. Then Deceit got on his case,_  Virgil continued.  
  
 _"That fiend, how dare he get under Logan's skin like that?"_  Roman huffed.  
  
 _Like you don't do it all the time?_  Virgil jotted out with a raised eyebrow and a half smirk.  
  
 _"Well that's different. I do it all in good fun! Logan and I may not always see eye to eye, but we are still friends. With Deceit...I don't know,"_  Roman ran a hand through his hair.  
  
 _I don't either,_  Virgil confessed.  _Its so hard to figure out where he actually stands._  The fact that he'd hurt Logan with his words earlier certainly did not help matters, and it naturally put Virgil on the defense. That being said...nothing with Deceit ever felt straightforward.  _Had_  he been encouraging Logan in his own way, or did he have an ulterior motive?  
  
Virgil sighed and rubbed at his temple. This whole thing was giving him a headache.

 _Still, thanks for doing something nice for Logan,_  Virgil scribbled.  
  
 _"It was no problem. Just don't get used to it,"_  Roman said with a wink.  
  
Virgil arched an eyebrow in return. He knew that Roman was jesting, but he still wanted to remind Roman not to go back on his word or he'd have to deal with Virgil's wrath.  
  
 _"What are the two of you doing over there?"_  Patton called over to them.  
  
 _"Just talking about stuff. And things,"_  Roman assured him.  
  
 _"Oh, that is not suspicious in the least,"_  Logan's eyebrow shot upward.  
  
Virgil rolled his eyes at Roman.  
  
 _"Hey Lolo, is this what you were looking for?"_  Patton asked.  
  
 _"I ask that you refrain from calling me...oh, oh my. Yes, I'd say that qualifies as a miniature orrery,"_  Logan murmured.  
  
 _"It's pretty neat how it works too. See, here's one that's closed and stored. But when you press the button here..."_  Immediately the box opened and several spheres floated out of the box, moving into their assorted positions and then proceeding to orbit the model of the sun.  
  
 _"Yes...I do believe that is exactly what I am looking for,"_  Logan reached out for it at once.  
  
 _"What is this? An item that Logan may covet more than his precious jam? Uh oh! Crofters better look out!"_  Roman snickered.  
  
It was now Logan's turn to roll his eyes.  
  
 _"Anyway, if we're going to make our purchases we best be on our way. It is almost 7:30, and we're due to meet the others back in the hall soon!"_  Roman announced, glancing down at his watch.  
  
 _"Almost 7:30 already? Boy, we really must have_  spaced  _out,"_  Patton chuckled.  
  
Logan sighed, shook his head, and made his way toward the front. Patton blinked in mock innocence.  _"What? Was it something I said?"_  
  
The corners of Virgil's mouth twitched upward and he shook his head. He missed moments like this.


	7. Chapter 7

As part of the first group to enter the theatre portion of the planetarium, Virgil and his friends were able to obtain seats fairly close to the center of the room. Virgil sat with Logan on one side of him and Era on the other. Shane was the first to discover that the seats tilted back, and he and Roman were now playing around with the seats as they passed the time until 8pm.  
  
Logan, in the meantime, decided to pull out his miniature orrery once more.  _"I learned a bit more about it,"_  he started to explain.  _"I was reading through the instructions, and it is capable of much more than what we briefly glimpsed back in the gift shop. I could show you, if you wish to see?"_  
  
Virgil had to admit that he was curious, and waved his hand in a motion that he hoped Logan would interpret to mean 'go ahead'.  
  
Logan cleared his throat, and Virgil knew that he understood.  _"For instance, if you point your wand in a motion like this..."_  Logan made a swishing motion toward the orrery with his wand. The celestial bodies depicted increased in size.  
  
He could make the contents in the orrery bigger?  _That_  would certainly come in handy! He offered Logan a thumbs up, but his hand fell when he saw that Logan held up a finger. There was more? Virgil leaned forward a little, admittedly curious as to what Logan was going to do next.  
  
This time he made a swishing motion and jabbed his wand in the direction of the planet Jupiter in the orrery. As he did so, the image grew closer and closer to Jupiter, until Jupiter was the main focus...and then closer still, until Jupiter and a few of its moons were the only things visible above the box.  
  
 _"...whoa, I didn't know you could do that,"_  Paige's eyes widened as she watched the sight.  _"I may have to pick one up myself after the show now!"_  
  
Though Virgil  _tried_  to play it down, even  _his_  eyes widened the slightest bit when Logan slashed through the air with his wand once more and pointed it at Jupiter, but this time instead of making a forward motion with his wand he pulled it back toward him until the celestial bodies depicted settled back into their original state - a miniature model of the solar system.  
  
Virgil glanced over at Shane and Roman, who were still goofing off with the chairs. Roman was leaning over the side of his when the sound of someone's throat clearing echoed through the room and Roman nearly startled out of his chair and onto the ground, catching himself in the nick of time.  
  
Virgil snickered, covering his mouth so as to not draw too much attention to this. The lights in the room began to dim.  
  
 _"Welcome to our main show!"_  a voice announced from the center of the room.  
  
Roman and Shane hastily moved back into their seats. Logan was practically on the edge of his seat, a fact that made Virgil smile once he observed it.  
  
 _"We are doing a unique show today. We are limited, when we look up at the sky, to our Earth-centric view. It is a beautiful view, but we often take for granted that the night sky will look the same anywhere we go,"_  the announcer proclaimed, using not a microphone but instead the Amplication Charm to project his voice so that he could be heard by everyone within the room.  
  
 _"That's not true!"_  Logan called out.  
  
 _"Oh?"_  the announcer replied, though he sounded genuinely curious and open to hear Logan's response. Virgil shrunk in his seat a little, as he could feel the eyes of  _many_  in the planetarium cast their way, and while they were focused on Logan? Virgil was still nervous. What if Logan misspoke? He knew that Logan was more eloquent than he was when it came to public speaking, and it wasn't that he  _doubted_  Logan, but he could not help but project his own insecurities toward public speaking onto Logan, and he felt a sort of secondhand anxiety over the whole thing.  
  
 _"While it is true that the night sky will look different from different vantage points within the universe, for obvious reasons, the night sky does not look the same from every vantage point even on our own world. While every person on the planet may have an opportunity to glimpse a full moon at some point in their existence, and the moon is undoubtedly the same celestial object no matter whose eyes fall upon it, an astronomer in the United Kingdom would observe a moon with different features than one observing the moon in Australia,"_  Logan explained.  
  
...huh. Virgil didn't know that.   
  
 _"You are indeed correct!"_  the announcer shouted. Logan looked proud of himself, and Virgil could not help but grin at the sight.   
  
i]"Take what that young man said into consideration, folks. If the moon, the nearest celestial object to us, appears different dependent on where you stand in the world...how does the placement of other celestial objects differ depending on factors such as what time of year it is,"[/i] the room darkened and the way the stars were projected on the screen above shifted to what Virgil could only presume was a view of the night sky in the United Kingdom in a different season,  _"or what part of the world you are in,"_  the projection shifted again.  
  
 _"A midsummer's night in Australia,"_  Virgil heard Logan gasp to himself beside him.  _"Fascinating."_  
  
 _"If the sky can look that different merely from a different vantage point on planet Earth, what must it look like from another view? Another planet within our solar system, perhaps?"_  the announcer continued.  
  
The spotlight came back on, bathing Logan in its light once more. He opened his mouth to speak.  _"No, I would like to hear from someone else...what about that young man sitting next to you? What is your favorite planet, young man?"_  
  
Virgil leaned forward in his seat, looking to the other side of Logan.   
  
Virgil realized that  _Paige_  was sitting on the other side of Logan at the same time that the spotlight shifted onto him.  
  
...well crap.


	8. Chapter 8

_Now would be a_  really  _good time for the floor to open up and swallow me whole,_  Virgil thought to himself.  
  
Of course, the floor did no such thing. Nor had Virgil mastered Apparition, so he couldn't Apparate his way out of this situation either. The third option, running as far from the room as he could and hiding, wasn't an option either, as it would only draw that much  _more_  attention to him.  
  
Instead, he sunk down in his seat slightly, eyes downcast, hoping that the announcer would give up and go on to some other person.  
  
If only he were so lucky.  
  
 _"What is your favorite planet?"_  the announcer repeated.  
  
Virgil reached a shaky hand into his pocket to pull out his pad and paper, to write out his answer to the question just to  _get it over with_ , because if he actually opened his mouth to answer it would come out as gibberish, and that would be even more embarrassing.  
  
 _"What's the matter, cat got your tongue?"_  the announcer chuckled.  
  
 _"Pluto,"_  Logan spoke up from beside him. The spotlight shifted back toward him.  _"His favorite planet is Pluto."_  
  
Virgil found it  _slightly_  easier to breathe.  
  
 _"Pluto?"_  the announcer repeated.  _"Pluto is a dwarf planet, not a planet proper, but...very well then. We will take a glimpse at what the night sky looks like on Pluto,"_  the spotlight faded off of Virgil and Logan entirely, as the room darkened and the sky shifted toward a view far different than anything anyone would see on Earth.  
  
 _"This small dot here, believe it or not, is what the sun looks like from Pluto,"_  the announcer explained, drawing attention to said dot with a glow in the dark arrow that he cast with his wand, and a chorus of gasps echoed through the crowd - including Era beside him. He could see why - the sun, from such a distant vantage point, looked scarcely brighter than any other star in the sky.  _"As you may also notice, a few of Pluto's moons are visible from this vantage point."_  
  
It was truly impressive, but Virgil found it hard to concentrate on that.  
  
Though the tension melted off of him in droves once the spotlight was off of him, the effects lingered. His head still buzzed, and his heart still raced. The perceived danger was gone, but his body had to acclimate to that realization - a task that took longer than jumping into defensive mode in the  _first_ place.  
  
This in itself was frustrating. He wanted to enjoy the show. He wanted to enjoy the view from Pluto (indeed his favorite planet - dwarf planet - whatever...and it felt  _good_  to know that his boyfriend knew that so readily, he'd have to thank Logan later, for not just that but for  _saving_  him, for speaking up when Virgil literally could not, and the entire theater's eyes were on him, and everyone  _knew_  he couldn't talk, and then the announcer poked fun at him, and somewhere in his mind he recognized that the announcer was not doing so with malice, but that didn't help...)  
  
The rest of the show passed in a blur. Virgil wished that he could say that he enjoyed it, and he  _did_  enjoy bits and pieces of it - when he found that he could pay attention. His thoughts were a mess, however, and he was still reeling from that incident earlier - an incident that  _should_  have and probably  _would_  have been inconsequential had it happened to most people, but it happened to  _Virgil_ , and Virgil was a hot mess.  
  
Most of his friends left the show in good spirits, and none more so than Logan. This brought a slight smile to Virgil's face in spite of the turmoil within his own mind. At least his friends enjoyed themselves, and he hadn't ruined their night with his antics.  
  
 _"That was great! I especially liked when they tried to show us what it might look like at the center of our galaxy!"_  Chelsea said in delight.  
  
 _"Er, I believe that was near the center, not actually the center proper,"_  Logan replied.  
  
 _"Preeeeety sure the guy said center,"_  Chelsea countered.  
  
 _"He may have, but I assume he meant close to the center. There is significant evidence that there is a supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy, just as there is one at the center of a great many other galaxies,"_  Logan elaborated.  
  
 _"...how does something manage to sound so scary and so neat at the same time?"_  Elliott wondered out loud.  
  
Virgil wondered the same thing.  
  
 _"How close are we to the center of the Milky Way? We aren't going to get pulled in any time soon, are we?"_  Patton wondered with a frown.   
  
Virgil's stomach lurched at the thought. Why did Patton have to ask?  
  
 _"It doesn't quite work in that fashion - to be pulled into a black hole you have to pass its event horizon, and I can assure you we are nowhere near said event horizon,"_  Logan replied.  
  
Virgil let out a sigh of relief. At least he didn't have to add 'being swallowed up by a black hole' to his list of worries.  
  
Though he might have jumped at that opportunity back in the planetarium. A black hole spontaneously opening up beneath his feet and swallowing him up when the spotlight was on him? Sounded like the perfect escape plan to him.  
  
There he went, thinking about  _that_  again.  
  
It was hard for Virgil to concentrate on the conversations his friends were having when his mind kept plaguing him with thoughts about what happened.  
  
He recognized that he was overreacting - It wasn't like he was going to see most of those people again. However, it drove a point home that was easy to forget when he was among friends, a point that would become  _much_  more important when/if he went back to Hogwarts to complete his 7th year in September.  
  
He still couldn't  _talk_. Around his friends, he could cope with it, but it still proved an inconvenience at times. It was much harder for him to contribute to a conversation when he had to write out anything he needed to say and clear his throat half the time to get his friends' to look in his direction so that they could  _read_  what he had to say. This, though, paled in comparison to what he'd likely have to deal with at Hogwarts.  
  
At Hogwarts, it would be an entirely different story. At  _Hogwarts_ , he'd be expected to answer questions in class. At  _Hogwarts_ , people he knew and would have to interact with day in and day out would see what was happening, and who knew how they would react?  
  
Needless to say, Virgil remained silent for most of the journey back to Diagon Alley -  _but then,_  he thought bitterly,  _how is that any different than normal?_


	9. Chapter 9

Virgil kept silent even as the group entered the Leaky Cauldron. Unsurprisingly, there was so much happening that no one paid him much heed.  
  
He tried not to hold this against his friends - they were in a  _large_  group, and it was hard enough to pay attention to everyone who  _could_  speak without it coming out as complete and utter gibberish, let alone someone who could not. In light of everything else that happened that night, however, it weighed on Virgil worse than usual - and it was probably for the best that he couldn't speak in this instance, as he had a feeling he might say something that he would regret if he did.  
  
The group said their goodbyes to Era, Chelsea, Astrit, Elliott, Shane, and Paige, who were all staying at the Leaky Cauldron. Elliott and Shane, at least, noted Virgil hanging back a little and mentioned how happy they were to see him again, to which he responded with one of his typical half smiles and a wave in their direction. At least he could still manage that much.  
  
Roman and Patton, however, had since relocated to a flat near Renilda's, so they continued down the road with Virgil and Logan. Patton's family helped with their first rent payment, but then Patton obtained a job at the Magical Menagerie and Roman a job at a Quidditch supply store.  
  
It made Virgil wonder if  _he_  should get a job but...he cursed mentally. Most of the jobs around Diagon Alley were customer service jobs, and between his anxiety and his speech difficulties he doubted he'd find too many people willing to hire him.  
  
He wasn't even  _trying_  to think about what happened in the planetarium, yet it still came back to haunt him. And the fact that it did made him want to rip his hair out, because he really was trying  _not_  to think about it, to distract himself with the conversation between his friends. He didn't  _want_  this night to be miserable, because Logan was in a great mood, and so were his friends, and they were able to see Elliott, Shane, and Paige for the first time in months! That was a cause for celebration!  
  
 _"I didn't know your favorite planet was Pluto, Virgil!"_  Patton commented.  
  
Virgil shrugged, not knowing what else to do while they were walking - he couldn't exactly pull out his pad and paper - but he did want to acknowledge that Patton said something to him.  
  
 _"Technically it is a dwarf planet, but Virgil informed me that he didn't particularly care. He wrote, and I quote, 'dwarf planets still have the word planet in their name, so it still counts. Plus the mythology is badass.' End quote,"_  Logan explained.  
  
Virgil let out a snort at that. He didn't think that Logan needed to specify that he was quoting Virgil, as he didn't picture Logan describing anything as 'badass'  _unless_  he was quoting someone else, but that just made it more amusing to him - and that was something that he sorely needed at this point in time.  
  
 _"Your favorite planet is the one named after the God of the Underworld? I'm shocked, shocked I tell you!"_  Roman gasped in a mock dramatic fashion.  
  
Virgil rolled his eyes and pretended to punch Roman in the arm, but the corners of his mouth still twitched upward nevertheless.  
  
 _"What's your favorite planet, Logan?"_  Patton wondered.  
  
 _"Neptune, most definitely,"_  Logan replied without a second thought.  
  
 _"Is that because it's the closest planet to Pluto?"_  Roman teased, sending a smirk and a wink in Logan and Virgil's direction.  
  
 _"No,"_  Logan scoffed, then glanced over at Virgil.  _"That is merely an added bonus,"_  he added with the slightest of grins. Virgil could feel his cheeks turning pink, and ducked his head downward.  
  
 _"Neptune is quite the fascinating planet. It has the strongest sustained winds out of any planet in our solar system, leading to meteorological patterns that are both active and visible to those observing the planet. In addition, it is the only planet in the Solar System that was discovered through mathematical prediction as opposed to empirical observation,"_  Logan elaborated.  
  
 _"...so it's the planet that was discovered in the most nerdy way possible. No wonder it's your favorite,"_  Roman chuckled.   
  
Logan rolled his eyes and let out an exasperated sigh.  _"What is your favorite planet, Roman?"_  
  
 _"Mine?"_  Roman tapped at his chin.  _"I do like that Jupiter is the largest planet in the Solar System, but I think I have to go with Saturn. Those rings are absolutely stunning, and she wears them so well!"_  
  
Logan's eyebrow shot upward.  _"You are aware that Saturn was a male god, correct?"_  
  
 _"Huh, fair point. Alright, HE wears them well. Happy now, Logan?"_  Roman retorted.  
  
 _"...I suppose, though I feel the need to point out that Saturn is an inanimate object, albeit an immense one, and thus does not possess a gender,"_  Logan remarked.  
  
 _"You're the one who corrected me!"_  Roman protested.  
  
 _"If you insist on using pronouns to describe an inanimate object, I feel that you should at least use the proper pronouns for the mythological individual that the object is named after. That is all,"_  Logan shrugged.  
  
 _"Is Saturn really inanimate though?"_  Patton wondered.  
  
 _"...what on Earth do you mean by that? It is a planet, Patton, not a living creature,"_  Logan replied.  
  
Virgil had to admit that he wondered the same thing - where was Patton going with this? He was nevertheless curious, though, and wanted to hear what Patton had to say.  
  
 _"Yeah, but it's certainly animated! It rotates and moves around the sun!"_  Patton pointed out.  
  
 _"Yes, but it is not alive,"_  Logan countered.  
  
 _"What if there is life on Saturn?"_  Roman chimed in.  
  
 _"That still does not make the planet itself animate!"_  Logan insisted.  _"The dictionary definition of animate is 'alive or having life'..."_  
  
 _"Exactly! So by that definition, if Saturn has life on it, it's animate!"_  Roman announced in triumph.  
  
 _"No, that's not what that means at all!"_  Logan groaned in frustration.  _"Animate refers to the object itself. On the off chance that there are biological lifeforms located somewhere on the planet Saturn, those lifeforms would be animate, not the planet itself."_  
  
 _"Though an argument could be made for Ego from Guardians of the Galaxy!"_  Patton pointed out.  
  
 _"...that is an entirely different story, not to mention fictional, and I would prefer not to get into that,"_  Logan sighed, squeezing the bridge of his nose and shaking his head. But Virgil could tell that he wasn't  _that_  upset by it, and though he was frustrated with Patton and Roman refusing to understand his points, he  _was_  enjoying the argument overall.  
  
 _"What is your favorite planet, Patton?"_  Roman asked.  
  
 _"Mine? Earth, of course!"_  Patton smiled.  
  
 _"That's not a planet!"_  Roman protested.  
  
 _"I'm afraid you are sorely mistaken, Roman,"_  Logan glanced at the Gryffindor incredulously.  
  
 _"That's not...I didn't mean it that way, of course Earth is a planet!"_ Roman argued.  
  
 _"Then why did you say it was not?"_  Logan arched an eyebrow.  
  
 _"You never specified that it had to be a planet other than Earth, RoRo!"_  Patton teased.  _"And I love it here! I mean, I wouldn't want to live on Venus, it's way too hot! And Mars is too cold! Here is just right! We live here, and so do so many cute animals and plants and I'm just so happy and thankful that we have such a nice place to live! "_  
  
 _"...leave it to Patton to end this on a wholesome note,"_  Roman retorted, though not unkindly. In fact, he had a fond smile on his face as he squeezed his boyfriend's hand.  
  
And despite the fact that Virgil could not contribute much to this conversation, he didn't feel  _as_  bad about that fact, because the conversation kept him wholly entertained in the meantime. It was a pleasant diversion from his  _other_  train of thought, and he would savor it while it lasted.


	10. Chapter 10

Virgil and Logan bade Roman and Patton farewell, then continued on toward Renilda's flat. Virgil retrieved his key and opened the door. As it turned out, he need not worry about waking his mother - she and Professor Picani were sitting in the living room, as was Deceit.  
  
Virgil couldn't say that he was too pleased to see his brother at this point in time, especially after what he said to Logan before they left.  
  
 _"Welcome home! How was it?"_  Renilda asked with a smile.  
  
Virgil offered a shrug in return.  
  
 _"That bad, hmmm?"_  Deceit said with a smirk.  
  
 _"Lionel Dante Thompson!"_  Renilda scolded. Deceit at least had the sense to look a bit sheepish at that.  
  
 _"Actually, it was rather enjoyable,"_  Logan confessed.  _"We visited a planetarium."_  
  
 _"Oh? And both you and Virgil enjoyed that, or just you?"_  Lionel's gaze shifted from Logan to Virgil.  
  
Virgil rolled his eyes. Deceit was, of course, correct in his backward assertion that Virgil had not enjoyed everything that happened that night, but he knew why Logan was speaking for him in this instance - Logan knew full well that Virgil would not want to discuss the events of the night in front of Deceit.  
  
 _"Lionel, leave them be,"_  Renilda insisted.  _"Would the two of you like to join Emile, Lionel, and I for a spot of tea before bed?"_  
  
Virgil shook his head, and Logan was quick to do the same.  _"We've had a long day, and I believe that we would both prefer to retreat to bed,"_  the Ravenclaw explained, much to Virgil's relief.  
  
 _"Okay! You can tell us all about your day tomorrow!"_  Renilda called out as the two headed toward their room. Virgil could hear Professor Picani asking Deceit a question, but could not make out the exact wording before Logan closed the door to their room behind them.  
  
 _"Please excuse my language,"_  Logan remarked, clearing his throat before continuing,  _"but your brother is a tremendous asshole."_  
  
Virgil let out a snort, pulling out his pen and pad.  _You act as if that's news to me._  Even if Deceit was turning over a new leaf - and perhaps he was - he still seemed to delight at being a humongous jerk to Virgil and his friends on occasion.

 _"That's fair,"_  Logan responded.  _"You know, now that I know your brother's middle name, I must ask - which parent was a fan of The Divine Comedy?"_  
  
Virgil blinked in confusion.  _The what now?_  
  
 _"The Divine...oh right, it is a Muggle work, you probably would not know it. Granted, even some Muggles would not recognize it. It is an Italian narrative poem written by Dante Alighieri. Within The Divine Comedy, the Roman poet Virgil guides Dante through Hell and Purgatory,"_  Logan explained.  
  
 _...do you have a copy of that? That actually sounds pretty badass,_  Virgil admitted.  
  
 _"I will have to ask my parents for a copy the next time I meet up with them,"_  Logan replied.  _"Though I suspect someone in your family has at least heard of The Divine Comedy, as both you and your brother bear the names of two of the most prominent characters featured."_  
  
 _Probably Mum,_  Virgil replied.  _Don't think Linus would have read a Muggle's work if you paid him a million Galleons._  
  
 _"I suspected as much myself,"_  Logan replied. 

 _I didn't know your favorite planet was Neptune,_  Virgil wrote.  
  
 _"I enjoy reading about them all, but Neptune is truly fascinating. I suppose it helps that I also find Neptune's color scheme to be the most aesthetically pleasing,"_  Logan divulged.  
  
 _So you like it because it's pretty?_  Virgil jotted out with a grin.  
  
 _"I said that I found it aesthetically pleasing. If you choose to interpret that to mean 'pretty', that is your choice,"_  Logan responded - but he wore a slight smile of his own.

 _I'm impressed you remembered my favorite planet. It only came up once,_  Virgil remarked.  
  
 _"Yes, but given that Roman began to shout 'Viva La Pluto!' soon after that, it proved to be a memorable experience overall,"_ Logan noted.

 _Leave it to Roman,_  Virgil replied, shaking his head but giving a half smile nevertheless.  
  
 _"Are you alright?"_  Logan inquired. It was such a sudden shift of tone that Virgil very nearly had to do a double take just to make sure that he heard correctly.  
  
 _Yeah, the planetarium was pretty sweet,_  Virgil told him. He wasn't lying about the planetarium being cool, so perhaps Logan wouldn't call him out on it?  
  
 _"Nice try,"_  Logan replied, pushing his glasses up on his nose to get a closer look at Virgil.  
  
 _What?_  Virgil decided to play dumb. He didn't think it would work, but why not delay the inevitable?  
  
 _"As you well know, I don't have many pleasant observations to make about your brother. That being said, he does have a talent for spotting when someone is denying a truth to others or themselves,"_  Logan arched an eyebrow upward.  
  
 _You think I'm lying?_  Virgil wrote.  
  
 _"No, not quite. You were honest in your impression of the planetarium. However, you glossed over your answer to my actual question, which leads me to believe that you are not, in fact, as well as you are pretending to be,"_  Logan deduced.  
  
 _I plead the fifth?_  Virgil jotted out.  
  
Logan let out a short.  _"That is an American euphemism; this is the UK."_  
  
Virgil sighed.  _Just didn't want to ruin your night._  
  
 _"Look at me, Virgil - Does it look like my night is ruined? Deceit did more to ruin my day than you ever did. Your discomfort over an unfortunate incident that occurred within the planetarium is beyond your control. Deceit, on the other hand, is looking to...stir the stew? Is that how the saying goes?"_  Logan pondered.  
  
Virgil chuckled.  _It's 'stir the pot',_  he corrected.  
  
 _"Stir the pot, then,"_  Logan amended.  _"Nevertheless, you see my point. You are merely reacting to a set of unpleasant circumstances; your brother is being deliberately antagonistic."_  
  
Virgil sighed, scratching at the side of his nose.  _What am I going to do? What if this never gets fixed?_.  
  
 _"If I could provide a more comforting answer I would. Alas, we have no way of knowing what is to come. The best we can do is face it as it comes,"_  Logan replied.  
  
 _That's what I thought you'd say,_  Virgil leaned back and let out another sigh. He wasn't sure if Logan's words made him feel better, but at least they didn't make him feel worse.


	11. Chapter 11

Virgil's dreams all followed the same theme that night - Something bad would happen and he'd try to shout to his friends to look out, or he's try to scream for help, and it would either come out as gibberish or as nothing at all.  
  
Waking up from nightmares usually offered some solace, but not when the subject of the nightmare was a reality. He might not be in the dangerous situations in his nightmares, but if he ever  _did_  wind up in such a situation? It was highly doubtful that he'd fare much better.  
  
 _"What did you think of the planetarium, you two?"_  Renilda greeted them in the kitchen the next morning. She was busy preparing a breakfast before she headed out to work, and Virgil stepped forward at once to help her out.  
  
 _"It's fine, I have all of the cooking handled,"_  Renilda assured him.  _"The two of you can help set the table, though!"_  Virgil and Logan went to fetch the silverware, but Renilda tapped Virgil on his arm.  _"Don't think I didn't notice you avoid my question just then."_  
  
Virgil sighed. No wonder his mother loved his boyfriend so much, they both called him out in a similar fashion.  
  
 _"Just tell me if it wasn't worth going for. I was thinking about taking Emile but I don't want to if you didn't like it,"_  Renilda admitted.  
  
 _Its not like that,_  Virgil wrote.  
  
 _"Uh oh, that doesn't sound like a ringing endorsement,"_  Renilda arched a brow with a knowing expression.

 _It was worth going for,_  Virgil assured her.  
  
 _"But?"_  
  
Virgil chewed at his bottom lip for a moment or so before finally jotting down his response.  _But I had a bad experience._  
  
 _"What sort of bad experience?"_  Renilda asked.  
  
 _The announcer in the planetarium asked me a question,_  Virgil explained.  
  
 _"Oh...oh dear. I didn't realize they were doing interactive shows,"_ Renilda frowned.  
  
 _"It wasn't hugely interactive, at least not to the point where the entire show was spent interacting with the audience. The announcer just asked a few questions of the audience,"_  Logan elaborated.  
  
 _"Guessing they didn't ask for volunteers,"_  Renilda remarked dryly.  
  
 _Not their fault that they picked the one guy who couldn't answer them to call on,_  Virgil wrote with a shrug.  
  
 _"Of course it is. Maybe they should ask for people who actually want to participate rather than just calling out anyone in the crowd,"_  Renilda huffed.  
  
 _It just made me realize that I still haven't fixed this,_  Virgil admitted.  
  
Renilda blinked.  _"Fixed what?"_  
  
 _This curse. The fact that I have to write out everything I say. It's all fine and dandy while I'm here, but you think they're going to have the patience to deal with this at Hogwarts? Fat chance,_ Virgil scribbled.  
  
 _"Well then they'll just have to learn patience,"_  Renilda stated.  
  
 _I can't just expect them to go out of their way for me-_  Virgil began to write, but his gaze shot upward at the sound of Renilda's voice.  
  
 _"Go out of their way for you? Go out of their way for you?! It's not about going out of their way for you! It's about respect. You can still communicate. You can still learn. You can still do everything that you can do when you were at Hogwarts before,"_  Renilda asserted.  
  
 _Except talk,_  Virgil wrote with a wry smirk.  
  
 _"And nonverbal spells were a thing the last time I checked,"_ Renilda countered.  _"You are still a capable wizard. If someone chooses to discount you on the basis of this? It's their loss, not yours."_  
  
 _"She's right, you know,"_  Logan chimed in.  
  
 _Oh great, now both of you are ganging up on me?_  Virgil let out a snort.  
  
 _"Someone has to supply you with encouragement and kind words. Knowing your habit toward self-deprecation, I doubt that you are hearing such words internally, and thus we - your mother and I - must double our efforts externally to combat that,"_  Logan explained.

 _So you're ganging up on me,_  Virgil wrote once more.  
  
 _"If that is how you desire to interpret it, sure,"_  Logan acquiesced.  
  
 _"I have a question, Virgil,"_  Renilda admitted.  
  
Virgil turned to look at his mother at once.

 _"You said that you haven't fixed this yet...does that mean that you're still looking for ways to break the curse?"_  she questioned.  
  
Virgil nodded.  
  
 _"I believe I have my mother's old cursebreaking book locked up in a trunk somewhere. I can't be sure, I don't look at those items much. But if it'll come in handy for you, I'm willing to fetch it,"_ Renilda offered.  
  
 _"I presume the books that you purchased when we met with my parents a few months ago did not offer adequate assistance?"_ Logan wondered.  
  
Virgil shook his head. The books weren't a total wash, and he intended to keep them in case he needed them for something else in the future, but neither book had information on breaking the sort of curse that Virgil had placed on him. Not to mention he wasn't entirely sure  _what_  the curse was...

 _"And one more thing- I'm sorry for what Lionel said last night. I had a talk with him about how rude that was,"_  Renilda told them.  
  
 _That's typical for him,_  Virgil replied.  
  
Renilda let out a sigh.  _"Yes, I know. We're working on that. You have to bear in mind that he was rewarded for such attitudes for years by your father."_  
  
 _"That is not an adequate excuse,"_  Logan protested.  
  
 _"No, it's not,"_  Renilda admitted.  _"It's an explanation, but not an excuse. The way he treated you was still wrong, and I hope that some day he is able to comprehend that. If only I'd noticed sooner..."_  
  
Virgil let out a shaky sigh.  _I know what its like, to fall into that sort of mindset,_  he admitted.  _I didn't realize there was any other option._  
  
 _"Because he took that away from you,"_  Logan growled.  
  
 _Yes, he did. But he also did the same thing to De-Lionel,_  Virgil wrote.  
  
 _"How? He did not alter your brother's memories in any fashion,"_ Logan countered.  
  
 _How do you think he had me convinced when he modified my memories? He convinced me that he was the perfect father, that he would be proud of me as long as I did exactly what he wanted. He took away - or at least tried to take away - any idea that it could be any different. That's why, when I ran into you, Roman, and Patton and it stirred something, his methods stopped working as well. Because I knew on some level, even if it wasn't conscious yet, that something wasn't right. I think the same thing happened to Lionel when I told him about what Linus did._  
  
 _"Why does he persist, then? We have opened this home to him,"_ Logan questioned.  
  
 _"Because for him its not as easy as breaking through false, implanted memories - though I'm not discounting how much of a challenge that is. It's his actual life, up through age eighteen,"_ Renilda reasoned.  _"And I can't lay all of the blame on Linus."_  
  
 _What do you mean?_  Virgil wondered.  
  
 _"Linus did the most harm, don't get me wrong, but I could have done something sooner. I turned my cheek, choosing not to see what Linus was doing for as sinister as it was. Because I wanted the perfect family, because I didn't want to break the status quo. That wasn't right of me and I'm so sorry,"_  Renilda confessed.  
  
 _"There is no way that you could have known the extent of Linus' crimes,"_  Logan countered.  
  
 _"No, but I knew something wasn't right and I didn't act on it until it was too late,"_  Renilda stated.  
  
 _But you still acted,_  Virgil wrote.  _Thank you for doing that._  He set his pen and paper down and wrapped his arms around his mother, who embraced him in return.


	12. Chapter 12

Virgil wasn't expecting the question that Logan tossed his way one day after dinner.   
  
 _"You worked at Flourish and Blotts last summer, did you not?"_  he asked.  
  
Virgil nodded.  _Yeah, why?_  he wrote in response.  
  
 _"Do you plan to apply there again this summer?"_  Logan wondered.  
  
Virgil let out a snort and pointed to his mouth, rolling his eyes.  
  
 _"...I don't see why that should stop you from applying,"_  Logan frowned.  
  
Virgil arched an eyebrow at that.  _Really? You don't see where they'd have issues hiring someone who can't even talk?_  
  
 _"They hired you last year, did they not?"_  Logan folded his arms across his chest.  
  
 _I could talk last year,_  Virgil reminded him.  
  
 _"If I recall correctly, you did not have much customer interaction. Your primary job was to shelve and sort the books,"_  Logan replied.  
  
Virgil sighed.  _Yes, but if a customer came up to me and asked for help, I was still expected to help them. Why are you asking anyway?_  
  
Logan cleared his throat and straightened his tie.  _"I was considering applying for a position myself. It is one thing for your mother to offer you room and board, as you are her son, but I feel as if I have done little to earn her hospitality other than date her son. I would like to at least pay for my room and board."_  
  
The corners of Virgil's mouth twitched upward at that.  _Go for it,_ Virgil wrote.  _I think you'd be great at it._  
  
 _"Perhaps I would be,"_  Logan shrugged.  _"It does not sound as though you'd like to resume your position, however."_  
  
 _What does that matter?_  Virgil jotted out with a scoff.  
  
 _"I did not intend to go to Flourish and Blotts on my own,"_  Logan confessed.  
  
 _You want me to go with you. That's what all of this is about,_ Virgil snorted.  
  
 _"Not just for the sake of accompanying me, however. You seemed almost prideful of your position at Flourish and Blotts when we first spoke of your employment last year,"_  Logan remarked.  
  
 _I mean it wasn't my dream job, but it was nice having a job. Made me feel as if I had a little more worth in the world,_  Virgil shrugged.  
  
 _"So why not apply once more?"_    
  
 _Why bother? They're just going to tell me no,_  Virgil rolled his eyes.  _I'd rather save myself the trouble._  
  
 _"Why would they tell you 'no' when you did a fine job last summer?"_  Logan responded.  
  
 _Where did you get the idea that I did a fine job last summer? I did an acceptable enough job not to get me fired. That doesn't mean I did a fine job,_  Virgil countered.   
  
 _"Now you're just being stubborn,"_  Logan remarked.  
  
 _Maybe I am. What are you going to do about it?_  Virgil set his pen down and folded his arms across his chest.  
  
Logan smirked.  _"Simple - I will offer you a deal."_  
  
Virgil kept his arms where they were, eyeing Logan closely. "Hmmm?" he asked.  
  
 _"We will go to Flourish and Blotts,"_  Logan began.   
  
Thus far it didn't sound like much of a deal, but Virgil motioned for Logan to keep going.  
  
 _"We both interview for a position there. I know you insist that they will not rehire you, but there is no way to know that for certain unless we give them a chance to do so. If you are correct and they choose not to hire you for a second season, I will allow the argument to drop,"_  Logan revealed. 

Virgil considered this. Logan wasn't usually one to go back on his word, so he  _believed_  Logan when he said he would let the subject drop once Virgil actually went to the interview.  
  
There was also another fact to take into consideration, one that Logan did  _not_  name - Logan wouldn't go to Flourish and Blotts without him. He'd made that clear.  
  
And as summer jobs went? Flourish and Blotts sounded like the perfect fit for someone like Logan. If that meant that Virgil had to tag along to get  _Logan_  to take the opportunity? That was what he'd do.  
  
Virgil uncrossed his arms and extended a hand for Logan to shake. Logan's hand met his. They shook on it- There was no going back now.

 _"Good. Shall we, then?"_  Logan asked.  
  
Virgil's reply came in the form of a bewildered look.  _Now?_  he wrote.  
  
 _"Yes, unless you would prefer to do it another day. The sooner we go, the sooner we can start, correct?"_  Logan stated.  
  
 _OK fine, might as well get it over with,_  Virgil conceded, heading to the closet to fetch clothes that looked a tad bit nicer than the ones he was currently wearing. When he was done with that, he slipped his pen and paper into his pocket and motioned to Logan that he was ready.

He'd hoped that the coast would be clear when he and Logan headed to the door. Instead, Renilda, Professor Picani, and Deceit were all within sight. And they could  _all_  see that Virgil was dressed up for something.  
  
He really needed to master Apparition so that he could just pop away when things like this happened.  
  
 _"Oooh where are you going all dressed to the nines?"_  Renilda teased.  
  
Virgil shrugged and motioned to the door.  
  
 _"We have plans to attend a social engagement,"_  Logan replied.  
  
Deceit didn't say anything, but glanced at Virgil and Logan with a curious expression.  _"Since when are the two of you particularly social?"_  
  
 _"We just went to a planetarium with our friends yesterday,"_ Logan retorted.  _"Now if you'll excuse us, we'll be on our way."_  
  
Virgil had his hands stuffed into the pockets of his dress robes at this point. Deceit was right- Virgil and Logan weren't particularly social, though they did go out and do things with their friends occasionally. Rarely did such occasions call for dress robes, however, so he could see why Renilda and Deceit were suspicious.  
  
He was glad that Logan shut down their questions before it could get too far. He was already nervous enough. He didn't want to tell them about what he was doing only to see Renilda's disappointed face when she heard he wasn't rehired, and endure Deceit's teasing about getting his hopes up in the first place.  
  
Besides, he was  _really_  only going in support of Logan in the first place. Not that Logan needed to know that.


	13. Chapter 13

Virgil and Logan stepped into Flourish and Blotts. The shop appeared to be in the midst of a rush, so Virgil and Logan perused the shelves as they waited. Once the rush began to die down, Logan headed for the front, Virgil lingering close behind.  
  
This was for Logan, after all.  
  
 _"Hello! How can I help you today?"_  the young woman at the counter asked. She didn't look familiar to Virgil, which meant that she had to be a new hire.  
  
 _"We were curious as to whether the manager has a bit of time to speak with us? We spotted the Help Needed sign in the window,"_  Logan explained.

 _"Oh! Just a minute,"_  she replied with a smile.  _"Madam Legere!"_  she called out.  
  
The familiar (at least to Virgil) face of the manager of Flourish and Blotts came into view. She greeted Virgil with a smile, clearly recognizing him. Virgil managed a smile in return, though it felt forced.  
  
 _"I was told that you were interested in employment here?"_  Professor Legere asked, looking from Virgil to Logan.  _"Are both of you interested?"_  
  
Virgil started to shake his head, but before he could do much, Logan was providing his verbal response.  _"Yes, we are."_  
  
 _"We could certainly use some extra help As I'm sure you can guess, early summers are a bit slow, but we use that time to manage our stock and train our employees for the back to school rush. I am not exaggerating when I say that from late July through the entirety of August, we are incredibly busy,"_  Madam Legere explained.   
  
 _"Now I know Virgil of course,"_  she nodded in his direction,  _"but who might you be?"_  
  
 _"Logan Dicax. It is a pleasure to meet you,"_  Logan extended a hand, which Madam Legere shook at once.  
  
Logan was a  _natural_  at this, Virgil realized as he watched Logan in action. As far as Virgil was concerned, Logan was a shoo-in for the job.

He answered each of Madam Legere's questions with such professionalism that it seemed as if he'd been to a thousand interviews as opposed to just this one. He skillfully weaved his school and life experiences into questions wondering how each would impact the job that he did for the business.  
  
It was thus no surprise when Madam Legere smiled at Logan and asked when he could start.  
  
 _"Oh, um, am I to take that to mean that you are interest in hiring me?"_  Logan's eyes were wide.  
  
 _"I wouldn't be asking when you could start if I didn't want you to start!"_  Madam Legere replied.  _"Is next Monday acceptable?"_  
  
 _"Yes, of course. I look forward to it, and thank you for the opportunity,"_  Logan responded at once.  
  
Madam Legere turned to Virgil.  _"Does Monday work for you as well, Virgil?"_  she inquired.  
  
Virgil blinked in surprise at the sudden shift in attention toward him.   
  
 _"No need to interview you a second time - you did a fine job last year, and we'd be happy to have your assistance again this year!"_  Madam Legere continued.  
  
As tempting as it was, Virgil pushed his hopes aside. It was nice hearing that she was pleased with his work the year before, but he had yet to tell her about his speech. He knew he had to get that over with, so as not to give himself false hope and dispell any misconceptions on Madam Legere's part.  
  
He proceeded to pull his pen and pad out of his pocket.  _Can't talk._  
  
 _"Oh no, have you lost your voice? Perhaps we should wait until after you feel better-"_  Madam Legere replied.   
  
He knew this was coming, but he  _still_  felt disappointed. He tried and tried not to let himself get hyped up to protect himself from this very thing occurring, yet when Madam Legere offered the job some small part of him clearly wanted to jump at the chance.  
  
 _It won't,_  Virgil wrote.  
  
 _"What do you mean?"_  Madam Legere peered at Virgil's note in puzzlement.  
  
 _"Virgil was afflicted by a curse several months ago that effects his speech,"_  Logan explained.   
  
 _"So you're not ill, then?"_  she turned back to Virgil.  
  
Virgil shook his head.  
  
He wasn't expecting Madam Legere to smile and clap her hands together.  _"Good, then we'll get you both started on Monday!"_  
  
Virgil was certain that he'd heard incorrectly. They'd just informed her that he  _couldn't talk_ , after all.  
  
"Hmmm?" Virgil inquired.  
  
 _"Does Monday not work for you?"_  Madam Legere looked up from the calendar she was writing in.  
  
He pointed to 'can't talk' on his pad once more. Madam Legere appeared confused, and Virgil heard Logan sigh next to him.  
  
 _"Virgil's lack of speech is not an obstacle in your hiring of him, is it?"_  Logan asked.  
  
 _"Merlin, no!"_  Madam Legere looked aghast at the mere  _suggestion_  of such a thing.

 _"We can easily accommodate for that. As it stood, the primary focus of your job was handling stock. I take it that the pen and paper you are using are your primary methods of communication?"_  she asked.  
  
Virgil nodded.  
  
 _"You will be permitted to carry around that pen and paper in the event that a customer does approach you, but I believe that is all that we will need to do. Now Logan, based on your experience and interests, I believe that you are better suited for aiding customers one on one and offering book recommendations,"_  Madam Legere explained, and from the way Logan lit up as Madam Legere explained the job he'd be doing, Virgil could tell he was pleased.  
  
Virgil left Flourish and Blotts in much better spirits than when he entered. Logan had a smug smirk on his face.  _"See? Are you not happy with the results of this venture?"_  
  
They arrived home and informed a thrilled Renilda that they would be starting at Flourish and Blotts next Monday. They would be working in the evening, when Renilda would be home from work, which would ensure that someone was always with Deceit to keep an eye on him, as arranged.

Later that night, Logan was in the bathroom when Deceit slithered into their room. Virgil let out an audible sigh - His head was buzzing, and he just wanted to get to bed.  
  
 _"So you got the job. Are you looking forward to it? I'm sure everything will go smoothly and you won't encounter any trouble at all,"_  Deceit teased.  
  
Virgil glared.  
  
 _"Careful Virgil, you might ruin your chances,"_  Deceit taunted.  
  
Virgil arched an eyebrow. He pulled out his pad and pen.  _Chances?_  
  
 _"Oh yes. Didn't I tell you? I may have some idea of how you break your curse. But I don't think I want to tell you now..."_  Deceit turned to leave, just as Virgil sprung up. As soon as he did this, however, he was besieged by a bizarre sensation that he immediately recognized, but was helpless to stop. No wonder his head was buzzing for most of the night.bHe sat down at once, his hand on his head. He was helpless to stop it from happening, but that didn't mean that he wanted it to happen with  _Deceit_  in the room. Deceit's eyes widened, and a grin spread across his features as he clearly pieced two and two together - Exaxtly what Virgil was attempting to prevent.  
  
 _"Oooh, this is even better than I thought..."_  Virgil heard Deceit chuckle before his vision faded to black.


	14. Chapter 14

Virgil blinked blearily at the blurred figures that surrounded him.   
  
 _"What did he say?"_  he heard Logan bark.  
  
 _"What do you mean?"_  Deceit asked.  
  
 _"The prophecy. What did Virgil say in the prophecy?"_  Logan pesisted.  
  
 _"I haven't the faintest idea what you mean,"_  Deceit replied.  
  
Logan let out a growl of frustration.  _"I could hear his voice from the bathroom."_  
  
 _"Oh fine, don't take a joke,"_  Deceit let out a sigh of mock exasperation himself.  
  
 _"You are not joking, you are being an ass,"_  Logan snarled.  
  
Virgil slowly opened his eyes, allowing them the opportunity to adjust to the light as he did so. He didn't like the sound of this conversation. If Logan was asking Deceit about the prophecy, he hadn't heard much of it - and it meant that Deceit was with him through the entire prophecy.  _Deceit_  was the quite possibly the only one who heard the prophecy in its entirety.  
  
What joy.  
  
 _"What did he say?"_  Logan asked once more.  
  
 _"Oh, you know, the usual - words,"_  Deceit gave a half shrug.  
  
 _"That is not what I was inquiring about, and you know that,"_  Logan narrowed his eyes.  
  
Deceit noticed Virgil looking at him and pulled him into the conversation at once.  _"Look who's finally joined us! Why don't we ask Virgil what he said? Oh, that's right, he never actually knows what he says in his prophecies!"_    
  
Virgil didn't know sign language. He usually replied on paper and pen to communicate to his friends and family, unless he could convey the point that he wanted to in expressions and gestures.   
  
In this case, the gesture that Virgil sent Deceit's way communicated exactly how he felt about Deceit at this point in time.  
  
 _"Oh, I believe that means that prophecy said something about birds? Something about flipping birds?"_  Deceit commented.  
  
 _"You do recognize that this is a serious matter?"_  Logan folded his arms across his chest and gave Deceit a stern look.  
  
 _"Oh, of course. I wouldn't dream of making light of such a serious moment,"_  he said with a smirk.  
  
 _"Yet that is exactly what you are doing,"_  Logan observed in a dry tone.  
  
 _"So...allow me to attempt to understand this. You want_  my  _help in determining what Virgil said. You want_  my  _help,"_   Deceit stated.

 _"I believe I made that crystal clear prior to this, but yes, that is precisely what I would like you to do,"_  Logan responded.  
  
 _"What's in it for me?"_  Deceit inquired.  
  
 _"...excuse me?"_  Logan stared.  
  
 _"I believe that I made what I was saying_  crystal clear _...what's in it for me? Why should I tell you?"_ Deceit wondered.  
  
 _"You...you..."_  Logan leveled an fiery glare at Deceit.  
  
 _"...did I do it? Did I actually render Logan Dicax speechless? Today is a day that will go down in history! Just wait until Roman hears!"_  Deceit chuckled.  
  
 _Stop playing games,_  Virgil wrote, having finally retrieved his pen and pad from his pocket.  
  
 _"What are you talking about, brother dearest? I'm not playing games!"_  Deceit protested, plastering an expression of mock innocence onto his features.  
  
Virgil arched an eyebrow at that, feeling as though this action would convey the message he wanted to convey a lot better than taking the time to write something out. Logan, in the meantime, let out a snort.  _"Oh? You're not playing games? What do you call this?"_  Logan gestured to Deceit, still looking as though he wished to curse Deceit into next Tuesday.  
  
 _"Using the leverage that I have suddenly gained to my advantage,"_  Deceit replied in a casual tone.  
  
Logan huffed.  _"Excuse me?"_    
  
 _"You're excused,"_  Deceit responded with a wave of his hand.  _"As for what I mean by that...I would like you to consider my current position. An opportunity has fallen into my lap, an opportunity that you are so desperate to take away from me. You still stand by the 'babysit Deceit' rule as though it actually holds any merit. If I wished to escape, couldn't I have done it while we were attempting to rescue Roman a few months ago? If I wished physical harm on any of you, wouldn't I have acted before this point?"_  
  
Virgil wasn't so sure, but he could  _also_  understand Deceit's argument, and if it was genuine...well, he'd seize the opportunity if it presented itself as well.  
  
 _"So what, you want your freedom in exchange for the information?"_  Logan inferred.   
  
Deceit let out another chuckle.  _"Did I not just say that I could have Apparated away while we attempted to rescue Roman months ago, if I desired 'freedom'? Instead, I stayed by your sides for the entire adventure, even playing along with your silly idea that you had me on some sort of leash. I do not consider this a prison. If I did? Well...I managed to escape one prison, and its defenses were considerably more advanced."_  
  
He had a point. He'd escaped Azkaban, a wizarding prison that was not only heavily guarded but famously difficult to escape. The security in Renilda's flat was  _nothing_  compared to that - and Virgil found himself wondering if the precautions that he, Logan, Renilda, and Professor Picani were undertaking were seen as more of a  _minor inconvenience_  to Deceit as opposed to an actual deterrent.  
  
...but if that was  _indeed_  the case, Deceit could have done something at any point if he wanted to...but he hadn't. Other than his usual array of snide and sarcastic comments, he'd done little other than stir the pot. And as annoying as that could be at times...it was a far cry from what Virgil knew Deceit was  _capable_  of.  
  
Virgil eyed Deceit closely, wondering what he was up to. Logan felt similarly, if his next question was anything to go by.  
  
 _"If it is not your freedom that you desire, what_  do  _you want from us? You claim to have added leverage over us, and yet continue to belabor the point that you were not as powerless to act as we thought you were. Which is it?"_  he demanded.  
  
 _"I would like to offer you a deal,"_  Deceit began.  _"If you accept your end of the deal, I will tell you what Virgil said in his prophecy."_  
  
 _"And what, may I ask, is your price?"_  Logan arched a brow, folding his arms across his chest. Virgil eyed Deceit warily.  
  
The corners of Deceit's mouth twitched upward once more.  _"My price? I simply want what is owed to me. An apology. I would like an apology."_


	15. Chapter 15

Virgil and Logan gaped at Deceit.  
  
_"An apology?"_  Logan repeated.  _"You would like an apology?"_  
  
_"I believe that is what I said,"_  Deceit replied.  _"An apology for the way that you have treated me since I have arrived here. You have not been welcoming to me in the least, you insist on branding me a traitor despite the multiple attempts I have made to show you that I have turned over a new leaf..."_  
  
_Then apologize,_  Virgil wrote.  
  
_"...excuse me?"_  Deceit arched an eyebrow.  _"I believe I asked you to apologize first."_  
  
_You don't deserve an apology,_  Virgil glared.  _Not if you don't understand why you owe us one._  
  
_"Have you suffered any physical harm under my hands since I arrived here? Have I betrayed you in any fashion?"_  Deceit retorted.  
  
_Not since you arrived here, no,_  Virgil admitted.  
  
_"But you continue to act as though I will, despite evidence to the contrary,"_  Deceit argued.  
  
_What evidence? The fact that you haven't done anything?_  Virgil retorted.  
  
_"Well yes, that is the conclusion that most would jump to after my last statement..."_  Deceit shrugged.  
  
_Lately,_  Virgil responded.  _You haven't done anything lately._  
  
_"Exactly. I have done everything in my power to show that you can trust me-"_  Deceit insisted, but Virgil let out a snort.  
  
_Actions speak louder than words,_  Virgil asserted.  _You can claim you've changed your colors until you're blue in the face, but you can't blame us for not trusting you._  
  
_"Who else would I blame? Who else_  is  _there to blame?"_  Deceit huffed.  
  
_Yourself,_  Virgil replied.  
  
_"...myself? You're turning the blame back on me?"_  Deceit stared.  
  
_We have no reason to trust you,_  Virgil jotted out.  
  
Deceit shook his head.  _"And I have no reason to trust you...yes, Virgil, we have been over this."_  
  
_No, you don't get to play that card,_  Virgil remarked.  
  
_"What card?"_  Deceit at least had the sense to look surprised by that.  
  
_What have we done? Why would you not trust us?_  Virgil arched an eyebrow.  
  
_"You've said it yourself - you do not trust me. You could turn me back in to the Ministry, all based on how you feel about me. My fate is left up to your whims,"_  Deceit explained.  
  
_Is that all? We could turn you in to the Ministry and we don't trust you? That's your reason for not trusting us? That the power isn't in your hands anymore?_  Virgil wrote with a sneer.  
  
_"I believe that is what I said, yes,"_  Deceit replied.  _"My fate is up to your whims, and I don't trust that you won't throw me to the wolves."_  
  
_You deserve to be thrown to the wolves,_  Virgil wrote with fervor.  
  
_"And thus I was right not to trust y-"_  Deceit began.  
  
"NO!" Virgil shouted, causing both Logan and Deceit to look at him in surprise.  
  
He knew that it probably didn't come out as 'no'. He didn't care  _what_  the yell sounded like, only that he was heard. He had their attention. Deceit wasn't interrupting him now.  _The reason you don't trust us is because we could hurt you. We could turn you back into the Ministry. We could do this. We could do that. You wanna know the reason why we can't trust you? I'll give you a hint - It's the difference between the word 'could' and the word 'did',_  Virgil informed him.  
  
Deceit looked both puzzled and taken aback. Logan, on the other hand, looked as though he finally reached an understanding of what Virgil was trying to say - and that urged Virgil to continue.  _We could do all of that to you, but we haven't. You have._  Virgil's writing grew increasingly shaky at this point, though it was still legible.  _You planted cursed objects on people that could have killed them. You went after mother. You went after my friends. You went after me, and put me in the hospital for over a week. You convinced me that no one would want to be friends with me, so I had no chance but to be friends with you and your cronies, cutting me off from any chance of making friends outside of the Dark Sides for years. You don't trust us because of things we_  could  _do to you. We don't trust you because of things that you_  have  _done to us. The reason you don't trust is that you're afraid we'll do the same to you in return. Now tell me again who is more justified to an apology,_  Virgil crumpled up the piece of paper and tossed it at Deceit as hard as he could.  
  
It bounced off of Deceit's head, and Deceit took a moment to uncrumple the paper and read over what Virgil wrote. Deceit paused for a moment, then set off for the door with another word. He closed the door behind him, leaving a dumbfounded Logan in his wake.

 _"That was not how I expected that to go,"_  Logan commented after a moment or so.  
  
Virgil let out a snort.  _Guess there were more hard feelings than either of us thought,_  he admitted.  
  
 _"This doesn't bring us any closer to determining what the prophecy said,"_  Logan observed.  
  
 _Sorry about that,_  Virgil wrote with a sigh.  
  
 _"No, no need to apologize. The subject has already caused more trouble than it's worth,"_  Logan declared, glaring at the door that Deceit closed behind him mere moments before.  _"You are correct - we do not owe him an apology. We have our reasons for not trusting him, and those reasons are more justified than his."_  
  
 _Doesn't change the fact that we don't trust each other, though,_ Virgil sighed.  
  
 _"It doesn't, but it also ensures that we do not compromise our values by apologizing under false pretenses,"_  Logan remarked.  _"As much as I would like to hear the rest of that prophecy, I did not fancy playing into Deceit's games in order to do so."_  
  
 _What are we going to do now, though?_  Virgil began to chew at the nail at the edge of his right thumb, his left hand still grasping the pen he was using to write with.  
  
 _"We need to speak with the others. We will decide what to do from there,"_  Logan announced, going to fetch his owl.


	16. Chapter 16

_"Does anyone else want anything to drink? Or even eat, we could bring out some snacks too!"_  Patton called out.  
  
Roman and Patton's flat was packed with people. Virgil and Logan were the first to arrive, followed thereafter by Shane and Elliott, then Paige, Chelsea, Era, and Astrit. Patton was determined to make sure that everyone was comfortable and satisfied, but he was eventually coaxed to take a seat by Roman.  
  
Virgil took a sip from the glass of water that Patton fetched for him earlier. Virgil initially wanted to decline Patton's offer, but Logan requested a glass of water and informed Virgil that he really ought to drink more water as well. Rather than argue, Virgil decided to just go along with it.  
  
 _"So what happened?"_  Shane blurted out once Patton took a seat.  
  
 _"Someone didn't want to waste any time,"_  Chelsea snickered.  
  
 _"What? We're all wondering it! We don't usually call meetings like this unless something happened!"_  Shane protested.  
  
 _"He's not wrong,"_  Roman admitted.  
  
 _"You are correct, of course,"_  Logan replied.  _"I requested that we gather here today because Virgil has given another prophecy."_  
  
The eruption of murmurs from his friends was enough to make Virgil want to duck his head. These were his friends, so he was more comfortable with them than the vast majority of people, but prophecies were always an awkward subject, and they probably always would be. His eyes sought out Era, and noted her shooting a sympathetic glance his way. At least he could take solace in the fact that  _one_  person present would always understand him in that regard.  
  
 _"Another prophecy? And here I thought we'd have a nice easygoing summer before going back to Hogwarts,"_  Chelsea snorted.  _"So much for that pipe dream. So what did he say? Dalibor's coming after us? Delilah's coming back to profess her undying love for Roman?"_  
  
 _"Ugh, don't even put that idea out into the universe,"_  Roman grumbled.  
  
 _"We can't be certain,"_  Logan admitted.  
  
 _"Duh. These things are never very specific,"_  Elliott reasoned.  
  
 _"The best we can do is try to make sense of what was said, no matter how cryptic it was,"_  Paige added.   
  
 _"So let's hear it - What did Virgil the Vehement have to say?"_ Roman asked.  
  
 _"Virgil the Vehement?"_  Logan arched a brow at that. Virgil was confused as well. He  _could_  be vehement at times, but he wasn't exactly known for it.  
  
 _"Have you heard his voice when he's giving a prophecy? I'd call that pretty vehement!"_  Roman insisted.  
  
 _"...alright that's fair,"_  Logan conceded.  _"However, it is also beside the point that I was trying to make. We can't be certain-"_  
  
 _"We know we can't be certain!"_  Roman interrupted.  _"We can still try to interpret it, as we have several times in the past!"_  
  
 _"If you would allow me to finish, I can elaborate,"_  Logan paused, waiting to see if anyone else would interrupt him. When everyone else in the room remained silent, he cleared his throat and continued.  _"We cannot be certain what Virgil said because only one person overheard the contents of the prophecy in their entirety."_  
  
 _"...and that person isn't you,"_  Era sighed. It wasn't a question, it was a  _statement_  - she'd worked out what Logan was trying to say, and clarified it for anyone who was left wondering.  
  
 _"Sadly, it is not. The person in question is not being particularly cooperative with our efforts either,"_  Logan elaborated.  
  
 _"Deceit?"_  Astrit guessed.  
  
Virgil and Logan both nodded.  
  
 _"Technically, he offered to provide us with the information we sought if we were willing to strike a deal with him,"_  Logan admitted.  
  
 _"A deal? What the hell did he want in return?"_  Elliott asked.  
  
 _An apology,_  Virgil admitted, holding his pad up so that the others could read it.  
  
 _"An apology? An apology for what?"_  Chelsea questioned in a derisive tone.  
  
 _"For not being more welcoming toward him,"_  Logan replied.  
  
The responses to this were varied. Chelsea looked outraged. Roman and Patton both looked thoughtful. The response that Virgil found most surprising, however, was Shane's.  _"Screw that! He wants an apology? He can apologize to us first!"_  
  
 _"That is exactly what Virgil told him to do,"_  Logan assured him.  
  
 _"Good,"_  Shane glared.  _"Look, I'm normally pretty easygoing. You guys know me. I'm willing to forgive a lot of stuff. But that guy planted a cursed object on me for no reason other than to throw suspicion off himself. There's a chance I wouldn't be here if it weren't for Virgil finding me."_  
  
 _It was technically Storm,_  Virgil corrected.  
  
 _"Virgil and Storm finding me,"_  Shane amended.   
  
 _"Oh yeah...I totally forgot that he did that,"_  Chelsea frowned.  
  
 _"Lucky you,"_  Shane retorted, shuffling a little in his seat.

 _"Anyway...I guess what I'm trying to say is not that I wouldn't be willing to forgive him ever. Just...not right now? I mean, if he's asking for an apology from us, does that mean he doesn't even think he did anything wrong? I can't forgive a guy who doesn't even feel bad for what he did to me or my friends,"_  Shane sighed.  
  
 _"That does put us in a bit of a pickle though,"_  Chelsea remarked.  
  
 _"What kind? Bread and butter? Garlic? Dill?"_  Patton piped up. When the several of the others looked at him in puzzlement, he smiled sheepishly and gave a light shrug.  _"Just trying to ease the mood a bit."_  
  
 _"Anyway,"_  Chelsea continued, though the corners of his mouth twitched upward in evidence that Patton's efforts were not entirely in vain.  _"We agree that Deceit doesn't deserve an apology? Yeah, that's all fine and dandy, but we still don't know what Virgil's prophecy says, and the one person who does is the one we're at odds with right now."_  
  
 _"...oh yeah, that does put a damper on things,"_  Roman frowned.  
  
 _"Isn't there any other method of determining what Virgil might have said in his prophecy?"_  Elliott said with a sigh of frustration.  
  
Chelsea's eyes blew wide open.  _"Maybe there is."_  
  
 _"...wait, what?"_  Elliott looked at her skeptically.  
  
 _"Logan heard part of the prophecy, correct?"_  Chelsea asked.  
  
Logan nodded.  _"I could hear Virgil's voice from the next room over, and it grew clearer as I moved closer to the room."_  
  
The corners of Chelsea's mouth twitched upward as a triumphant gleam shone in her eyes.  _"Have you ever heard of a pensieve?"_


	17. Chapter 17

A pensieve? What on Earth was a pensieve?  
  
Not everyone in the room shared Virgil's confusion. Logan's eyes widened. Era and Astrit both exchanged glances. Elliott nodded appreciatively. Patton, Shane, Paige, and Roman, however, looked equally as befuddled as Virgil felt.  
  
At least he wasn't alone. They'd have to offer up an explanation if half the  _room_  didn't know what was going on.  
  
 _"A brilliant idea, but one that is hard to act upon,"_  Logan replied, tapping his chin.  
  
 _"What do you mean?"_  Chelsea frowned.  
  
 _"Judging from the puzzled expressions on Roman and Patton's features, they do not have a pensieve in their possession - nor does anyone else in this room, if I had to hazard a guess."_  
  
 _"Yeah, I'm fresh out. Used my last pensieve on Tuesday,"_  Shane chimed in.  
  
 _"...you have no idea what a pensieve is, do you?"_  Elliott asked with their eyebrow raised.  
  
 _"Not the faintest clue,"_  Shane admitted readily.  
  
 _"He's not the only one,"_  Roman chimed in.  _"Care to fill the rest of us in on what you're talking about?"_  he gestured around the room.  
  
 _"Who present does not know what a pensieve is?"_  Logan inquired.  
  
Virgil raised his hand, as did Roman, Patton, Paige, and Shane - turned out Virgil correctly read their looks of confusion after all.  
  
 _"A pensieve is a magical object that a magic user can utilize to store their memories,"_  Logan explained.  
  
 _"So it's like a magical diary?"_  Patton gasped.  
  
 _"How is that going to help us figure out what Virgil said in his prophecy? Placing Virgil's memories into the pensieve won't work, because Seers do not remember the prophecies they give,"_ Roman pointed out.

 _"We wouldn't be using Virgil's memories,"_  Chelsea replied.  
  
 _"Whose memories would we use, then?"_  Patton wondered.  
  
 _"Mine,"_  Logan clarified.  
  
Era's hand flew to her mouth as she realized.  _"Logan heard Virgil giving the prophecy! He couldn't make out what Virgil was saying in the moment, but that doesn't mean that he didn't hear it on some level."_  
  
 _"I admit, I am uncertain as to whether this will actually work or not - but I am willing to give it an attempt. That being said, this will not be an easy undertaking,"_  Logan admitted.  
  
 _"Is it ever?"_  Elliott commented with a wry smirk.  
  
 _"Fair point,"_  Logan conceded.  
  
 _"So what all do we need to do?"_  Paige wondered.  
  
 _"Well first off, we need a pensieve,"_  Chelsea stated.  
  
 _"Do they sell pensieves anywhere in Diagon Alley? I mean, we're not far from a bunch of shops. That part should be easy,"_  Roman announced in triumph.  
  
Virgil let out a snort. Roman shot a glance in his direction.  _"What are you snorting at?"_  
  
 _Have you ever seen a pensieve in any of the shops you've been to in Diagon Alley?_  Virgil wrote.  
  
 _"...no,"_  Roman admitted, coming to the realization that finding a pensieve wasn't as easy as walking into any shop on the street.  
  
 _"Let's be honest - Has anyone here actually been to every shop in Diagon Alley?"_  Elliott reasoned.  
  
 _"We will search the shops of Diagon Alley for a pensieve,"_  Logan announced.  _"Though we may have to visit a number of shops, and perhaps even branch out into Knockturn Alley."_  
  
Virgil gave an involuntary shudder at the mention of Knockturn Alley.   
  
 _"Given that Knockturn Alley is associated with bad experiences for some of us, I don't think it's necessary that all of us go to Knockturn Alley should it come to that. Any trips to Knockturn Alley will be done on a voluntary basis,"_  Logan continued.  
  
Virgil let out a sigh of relief. He had no desire to step foot in Knockturn Alley unless he absolutely had to. He visited Knockturn Alley twice while under his father's enchantments, and thus even the  _name_  of the alley brought with it memories of a time that still gave him nightmares.  
  
 _"So we go find this pensieve thingy. What do we do once we have it? How do we get Logan's memory?"_  Paige asked.  
  
 _"That's the hard part,"_  Chelsea admitted.  
  
 _"...you just said we might have to search two separate shopping areas for the pensieve itself, and yet that's the easy part?"_  Shane gaped.  
  
 _"It's advanced magic. So advanced that they don't even teach it at Hogwarts,"_  Era explained.  
  
 _"...explains why none of the three Hogwarts graduates present have heard of it,"_  Elliott noted.  
  
 _"How do you guys know about it, then?"_  Shane inquired, glancing at Chelsea, Logan, Era, and Astrit.

 _"I've done a lot of research into subjects that are not typically covered by the Hogwarts curriculum,"_  Logan divulged.  
  
 _"Same, though in my case I was looking for sources for an article I was writing, and came across another article that mentioned pensieves. I did some research, and here we are,"_ Chelsea shrugged.  
  
The attention shifted to Era and Astrit next.  
  
 _"One of Astrit's extended relatives on his mother's side has one,"_ Era explained.   
  
 _"Sadly, we didn't ask said relative how you extract memories..."_ Astrit admitted with a sigh.

 _So does anyone actually know what we're doing or are we flying by the seats of our pants?_  Virgil wrote.  
  
 _"Pretty sure we're flying by the seat of our pants and hoping for the best,"_  Shane replied.  
  
 _Cause that hasn't backfired on us in the past,_  Virgil snorted. He wasn't saying that they  _shouldn't_  go through with their plan, merely reminding his friends that there were inherent risks in attempting complicated magic they'd never attempted before.  
  
 _"We should probably grab a couple of books on the subject as well, unless one of our resident Corvids has one?"_  Roman glanced toward Chelsea and Logan.  
  
 _"Excuse me?"_  Chelsea looked incredulous.  
  
 _"Did you just refer to us as Corvids?"_  Logan blinked in surprise.  
  
 _"Yep. I mean ravens are a part of the corvid family and you guys are Ravenclaws..."_  Roman explained.  
  
 _"Huh. I was not expecting that from you,"_  Logan admitted.  
  
 _"Just what is_  that  _supposed to mean?"_  Roman protested.  
  
 _"It does not matter. To answer your prior inquiry, I do not have a book concerning pensieves within my current possession,"_ Logan remarked.  
  
 _"Neither do I,"_  Chelsea confessed.  
  
 _"Well, this shopping list isn't going to buy itself! Let's get to it!"_ Roman called out.


	18. Chapter 18

It was decided that the group would 'divide and conquer' Diagon Alley, so to speak.  
  
Virgil and Logan checked out a business by the name of Wiseacre's Wizarding Supplies. Chelsea and Paige opted to check out a junk shop full of secondhand items. Elliott and Shane checked out a new store to Diagon Alley that no one in their group checked out before. Patton and Roman, as well as Era and Astrit, decided to check out various stalls and booths on the street to see if they had anything. When they were done, they agreed to converge in front of Sugarplum's Sweet Shop and discuss their results. Even if a group  _did_  find a pensieve, if would not do well to purchase two pensieves only to have to return one of them because they did not  _need_  two.  
  
Virgil and Logan were on their way back from Wiseacre's. While the store had numerous fascinating knickknacks - and that alone might warrant another visit at a later date - there was no sign of a pensieve anywhere on their shelves.  
  
They were the first to turn up in front of Sweetplum's, by the looks of it.  
  
 _"I do not see any of the others here,"_  Logan announced.  
  
Virgil shook his head, trying to convey in a nonverbal fashion that he did not either.  
  
It sounded as though Logan's theories were correct - Finding a pensieve wouldn't be easy. There was a  _reason_  why several in their friend group never heard of such an object, despite three of their number being graduates of Hogwarts who'd already taken their NEWTs.

In the event that they didn't find a pensieve in stores, was it possible that they might be able to...  
  
Virgil's eyes widened. Was it possible that they were going about this the wrong way entirely? What if it wasn't the basin itself that mattered, but the enchantments and/or potions in said basin? In that case, any old basin would do - What they really needed was a book on how to prepare the basin for such a use.  
  
Rather than wait until the others were around to write out his theory, Virgil opted to do it while they were not standing in wait directly in front of him.  _Are you sure that a pensieve is something that you have to buy, or is it something we have to create ourselves?_  
  
 _"I was starting to wonder the same thing,"_  a voice said from behind him. Virgil jolted so much that a large line gouged into his paper from the tip of his pen.  
  
 _"Next time we'll say hi first,"_  Virgil heard Astrit say.  
  
He turned to see Era and Astrit - Era was the one who remarked on what he was writing, Virgil belatedly realized.  
  
Noting the large mark now marring the current piece of paper, he flipped to the next one in his pad of paper.

 _"What were you beginning to wonder, Era?"_  Logan turned to her.  
  
 _"Oh, Virgil was wondering if we might have to create a pensieve ourselves. I was wondering the same thing,"_  Era admitted.  
  
Logan's eyes went wide at that.  _"...I never even considered that possibility, but now that you mention it, it does make sense."_  
  
 _"What makes sense?"_  Shane asked as he and Elliott moseyed up to the front of Sweetplum's.  
  
 _"I think we're gonna give making our own pensieve a shot,"_  Astrit explained.  
  
 _"Wasn't that the goal in the first place?"_  Elliott arched an eyebrow.  
  
 _"We don't just mean adding Logan's memories to it. We mean enchanting the basin and the liquid too,"_  Era clarified.  
  
 _"...so you mean literally make a pensieve from scratch, then,"_ Elliott realized.  
  
 _"Based on that comment, I'm gonna guess that you guys didn't have any luck finding a pensieve either,"_  Roman's voice joined the fray.  
  
 _"Well at least we're all getting done at the same time!"_  Chelsea announced as she and Paige walked up to the group as well. Everyone was present and accounted for.  
  
 _"Well we did all set off at the same time,"_  Astrit reasoned.  
  
 _"It's interesting that you mentioned making our own pensieve - That's exactly what the shop keeper told us that people usually do! It's not impossible to buy a pensieve, but they're usually used pensieves, and sometimes that can cause more problems than it's worth!"_  Patton explained.  
  
Huh. That was a helpful shopkeep. Virgil and Logan hadn't been so lucky; then again, neither of them even bothered to ask the shopkeeper at Wiseacre's Wizarding Supplies any questions. It was then that Virgil noticed Logan staring slightly down the street, and wondered what was on Logan's mind. Logan, of course, provided an answer soon enough.  
  
 _"I think I will venture into Obscurus Books and see if they have a copy of a book that may be able to assist us,"_  Logan went to set off for said bookstore.  
  
 _"Not Flourish and Blotts? I thought for sure you would purchase books from the shop that you work at,"_  Roman blinked in surprise.  
  
 _"Alas, they don't carry this one. I checked,"_  Logan replied.  
  
 _"Wait, does this book have information on pensieves? How did you know to look that up ahead of time?"_  Patton looked puzzled.  
  
 _"The particular book I hope to fetch does not pertain to pensieves, though I may search for a book or two on the subject while I am in the shop,"_  Logan informed them.  
  
 _"So what's the plan now?"_  Shane wondered.  
  
 _"Virgil and Logan can go to Obscurus Books while the rest of us head back to Patton and Roman's?"_  Era suggested.  
  
 _"Are we even going to have time to do this today?"_  Astrit sounded skeptical.   
  
 _"What other choice do we have?"_  Elliott shook their head.  _"We need to figure out what that prophecy said, don't we? And the sooner we can do that the better."_  
  
They had their work cut out for them, didn't they?  
  
 _You know, it probably would have been easier if we figured this much out in the first place,_  Virgil pointed out as he and Logan set off toward Obscurus Books.  
  
 _"Perhaps, but we lacked a sufficient amount of information regarding pensieves in the first place. I consider it trial and error more than anything else. I hope to at least get the preparations started today,"_  Logan replied.  
  
 _Started?_  Virgil stared.  
  
 _"Yes, started. You did not believe that this was something that we could get done in just a few hours, did you?_  Logan asked.  
  
...well, he didn't necessarily  _think_  they would. It was more that he'd  _hoped_  they would...


	19. Chapter 19

CA dark green smoke began to fill the room. Virgil covered his mouth, coughing - and he was far from the only one to do so.  
  
 _"I could have sworn that was the right spell!"_    
  
 _"No, you're doing it wrong."_  
  
 _"I don't think you add that ingredient yet!"_  
  
 _"No wai-"_  
  
Virgil could hear his friends arguing through the smoke, though he was not certain who said what. The intended goal - Making their own pensieve fit for use - was proving to be even more challenging than any of them originally thought.  
  
They hadn't even gotten past the first few steps.  
  
Virgil heard a window open on the other side of the room. Good, hopefully that would help to clear  _some_  of the smoke out. Virgil wracked his brains for any spell that might be able to clear up smoke, but the only smoke-related spells that he could recall would generate  _more_  smoke - and that wouldn't be any help at this point in time.  
  
 _"I hate to say it...but I think maybe we should take that last explosion as a sign we should quit while we're ahead...or maybe behind, as the case may be,"_  Era commented with a wry grin.  
  
 _"Yeah, I hate to say it too, but I kinda agree. Roman and I already have a lot of cleaning to do after that last mistake,"_  Patton admitted.   
  
 _"But we still don't know what Virgil said!"_  Roman protested.  
  
 _"And I don't believe that we'll be able to access that information tonight. The others are correct in their assertions - we will reconvene at a later point. I hope to do a bit more reading tonight in an attempt to ascertain what keeps going wrong,"_ Logan explained.  
  
The group split up soon thereafter. Virgil and Logan headed back to Renilda's flat after Patton rejected their offers to help clean, and save for Roman and Patton, the rest of the gang headed back for the Leaky Cauldron.  
  
 _I don't get why it produced green smoke,_  Virgil wrote once they were almost home and he felt safer writing on his pad.  
  
 _"I don't either. It should not be producing smoke in the first place. We had all of the proper ingredients, so I assume that one ingredient was added in the wrong amount, or perhaps added to the mixture too early,"_  Logan mused.  
  
 _"Virgil! Logan! How are y...are you aware that you have something green on your hands?"_  Renilda's smile shifted to a frown at this observation.  
  
 _"Very much so, but thank you for your assistance Ms. Nyx,"_ Logan responded, hastily making his way toward the bathroom. Virgil was not far behind. In their haste, they very nearly ran into Professor Picani, who was carrying a cup of coffee.  
  
 _"Oops! Oh dear! We almost had a collision there!"_  he announced with a lighthearted chuckle.  _"Uh oh, looks like the two of you have sprouted green thumbs!"_  
  
 _"Yes..we were attempting to brew a potion but it did not go as well as we hoped,"_  Logan responded.

 _"Oh? What sort of potion? Maybe I'd be able to help!"_  Professor Picani said cheerily  
  
Virgil and Logan exchanged skeptical glances.  
  
 _"What? Just because Muggle Studies and Psychology are my specialties doesn't mean I'm bad at Potions,"_  Professor Picani defended himself.  
  
 _"Oh, we weren't questioning you ability to brew a potion. The potion we are attempting to brew is a highly specialized potion - one that is not even taught at Hogwarts,"_  Logan quickly clarified - much quicker than Virgil could  _write_  it out. He could, however, write a couple of words that might offer more of an explanation to Professor Picani.  
  
 _Pensieve Potion,_  he turned his pad to show this message to Professor Picani.  
  
 _"Jiminy Cricket, a Pensieve Potion? It took Remy and I months to figure that one out,"_  Professor Picani lamented.  
  
...wait, what?  
  
 _"You have successfully prepared a Pensieve Potion?"_  Logan gasped.  
  
 _You brewed a Pensieve Potion with my cousin?_  Virgil jotted out.  
  
 _"Darn tootin'!"_  Professor Picani replied.  
  
 _"...to which inquiry?"_  Logan wondered.  
  
 _"I've brewed a Pensieve Potion! It wasn't with your cousin though, Virgil. Your uncle used to go by Remy too when he was younger!"_  Professor Picani explained with a smile.  
  
...Uncle Rembrandt brewed a Pensieve Potion as well? Virgil suddenly found himself wondering  _why_  the two felt the need to do so...

 _"Would you be able to assist us with our Pensieve Potion?"_ Logan inquired.  
  
 _"I can do you one better,"_  Professor Picani grinned. He motioned for Virgil and Logan to follow him.  _"Do you have a basin of any sort?"_  
  
 _"Oh, no, we were not suggesting that you brew the potion for us,"_ Logan quickly clarified.  
  
 _"I know,"_  Professor Picani smiled.  _"I just happen to have some already brewed!"_  
  
Wait,  _what_?  
  
 _"You're in luck - it's actually something I use pretty often in my job as a therapist!"_  Professor Picani smiled.  _"Its easy to miss something in the moment, something that may be important, and so I'll often go back and review my sessions with my patients so that I can better assist them!"_  
  
 _"...that is an absolutely ingenious idea,"_  Logan marveled.  
  
 _"I do try,"_  Professor Picani said with a wink.  _"It should be in my bag here...ah, there we go! Basin?"_  he looked to Logan and Virgil.  
  
Virgil dashed out of the room at once, rushing to the kitchen to fetch the largest bowl he could find. He returned to the room a few minutes later. Logan and Professor Picani were discussing whether a pensieve might be beneficial to Logan's studies.  
  
 _"That'll do!"_  Professor Picani called out as Virgil set the bowl down. He quickly poured about half of the contents of the vial into the bowl.  _"If one of you could add water until it's about two thirds full?"_  
  
Logan was the one to add the water, returning a short while later.  
  
 _"Now we get to work our magic! Bibbidi, Bobbidi, Boo!"_  He waved his wand and the liquid in the bowl gave off a faint glow before settling.  
  
 _"I do not believe I have ever heard that incantation before,"_ Logan noted.  
  
Professor Picani chuckled.  _"That's cause it's not an incantation. It's from the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella!"_  
  
 _"...oh,"_  Logan responded, turning a faint shade of red.

 _"Now we stir for a few minutes,"_  Professor Picani explained. He began to stir the mixture, all the while humming an unfamiliar tune to Virgil.  
  
Logan, on the other hand, snapped his fingers together at once.  _"Whistle While You Work. Snow White, Disney, 1937."_  
  
 _"Right you are, sir!"_  Professor Picani beamed.  
  
Logan looked so proud of himself that Virgil could not help but grin. Clearly, Logan was making up for not recognizing the previous reference by showing off his extensive knowledge about this one.  
  
 _"Alright!"_  Professor Picani announced.  _"Do you have the memory?"_  
  
Virgil and Logan exchanged glances.  
  
 _"Lemme guess, you don't know how to extract one?"_  Professor Picani asked.  
  
Virgil and Logan both shook their heads.  
  
 _"Whose memory will we be exploring?"_  Professor Picani wondered.  
  
Logan slowly raised his hand.   
  
 _"Not to worry, I shall teach you! And don't worry, Virgil, you won't be left out. Pay attention and I'll teach you too!"_  Professor Picani grinned.  
  
Huh. Who would have thought they'd get a crash course on pensieves from a professor outside of school? Virgil and Logan nodded to Professor Picani almost concurrently, awaiting his next instruction.


	20. Chapter 20

_"First, you place your wand at your temple,"_  Professor Picani began.  
  
 _"Does it matter which temple?"_  Logan wondered.  
  
Professor Picani shook his head.  _"Either temple should work!"_  
  
Virgil placed his wand at his left temple, as it was the closest to his hand. Logan did similarly.  
  
 _"Both of you have successfully cast Patronuses, haven't you?"_  Professor Picani inquired.   
  
Patronuses? What did Patronuses have to do with anything? Virgil glanced over at Logan to see if he could make any more sense of this question than Virgil did, but Logan looked just as puzzled as Virgil felt.  
  
Professor Picani chuckled, which wasn't exactly  _helpful_. Fortunately, he took pity on them and decided to elaborate.  _"An integral part of casting a Patronus Charm involves invoking a happy memory,"_  he explained.  _"You draw out a memory for a pensieve in a similar fashion. Focus on the memory you wish to view within the pensieve, only instead of casting a Patronus Charm, you focus on that memory and slowly pull your wand outward. If you do it correctly, it should come out as a silvery string, which you can then place in a small container until you wish to use it in a pensieve. I often use vials myself, though in this case we can probably deposit the memory we want to view directly into the pensieve."_  
  
Virgil's eyes widened at once.

What happened to the memory once one extracted it to view in the pensieve? Did it remove the memory from their head permanently? Just the  _thought_  of any sort of damage to his memory sent Virgil into a near panic attack, and he retrieved his wand from his head at once, shaking his head repeatedly?  
  
 _"Virgil? Are you alright?"_  Logan was at his side at once. Professor Picani immediately paused his lesson as well, taking a few steps forward.  
  
Virgil closed his eyes, trying to fight through this without the situation devolving further. He didn't  _have_  to do this - and besides, his initial theory didn't make sense! Professor Picani claimed to sort through some of his sessions in a pensieve, and he saw no signs of ill impact on Professor Picani.  
  
 _But what if Virgil was reading the situation wrong or he did something wrong and damaged his own memory and really, how much more could his brain take after Deceit's memory charms in his sixth year followed by Linus's several months before and..._  
  
Virgil felt a hand slip into his.  _"Focus on my voice, Virgil,"_  Logan requested in an even tone.  _You are not in any present danger. There are no threats in the immediate vicinity. There is no clear and present danger,"_  Logan asserted.  _"You are safe."_  
  
It didn't pull Virgil entirely out of his panicked state, but it did help to ground him. Logan was right. No one was threatening his memories. He did not even need to cast the spell. His hands still felt tingly, and his chest still felt a tad tight, but he could breathe a little easier with each breath he took. It helped that Logan was running his hand in a soothing fashion as well.

Professor Picani moved in a little closer.  _"Are you alright, Virgil?"_  
  
Virgil shook his head. He was getting better, but he wasn't  _alright_.  
  
 _"I apologize if it was anything that I did that upset you,"_  Professor Picani continued.  
  
Virgil let out a snort at that, to which Professor Picani frowned.  _"I suppose I have no choice but to take that as a yes."_  
  
Virgil glanced at his hand and then at Logan, nodding to him. Logan understood and let go of Virgil's hand, allowing Virgil to slip his hand into his pocket and retrieve his pen and paper.  _Not your fault,_  he hastily scribbled. Then,  _I started thinking about_...he faltered, his hand beginning to shake a little. He took a deep breath in order to steel himself. No one was forcing him to do this. If he seemed the pensieve too risky, he didn't  _have_  to participate. Armed with that knowledge (and a few more breathing exercises), Virgil was ready to continue.

 _When you draw out a memory, you don't lose that memory, do you?_  he wrote at last. Virgil wasn't so sure that he wanted the answer, but he knew that he  _needed_  the answer.  
  
He winced as realization dawned on the features of Logan and Professor Picani. The thought hadn't even  _occurred_  to them, because it was a silly thing to worry about, and even more silly to get  _this_ upset over it.  
  
 _"No, all of your memories remain intact. I apologize, I should have explained that sooner,"_ Professor Picani frowned.  
  
 _"I apologize as well. I should have recognized far in advance that magic pertaining to memories would generate an adverse reaction in you. My oversight caused you to endure great harm, and for that I am deeply sorry,"_  Logan fiddled with his tie.  _"I only hope you can forgive me."_  
  
 _Forgive you? There's nothing to forgive you for, it's not your fault!_  Virgil wrote as fast as he could in his insistence that Logan was blameless, that it was...  
  
 _"I'd like to comment, if I may?"_  Professor Picani remarked. Both Virgil and Logan turned to face Picani at once.  _"No one needs to forgive anyone here, because no one present is to blame. If anyone should shoulder that burden, it is those who subjected you to trauma in the first place. You, Virgil, are blameless in this matter. You have no control over how you respond to trauma. And Logan..."_  
  
Logan's eyes snapped wide at once.  
  
 _"You are not to blame either. We had no way of knowing that our seemingly innocuous activity would have the effect that it did on Virgil. You are not to blame, Logan,"_  Professor Picani assured him.  
  
 _"I should have known-"_  
  
 _"Some things are unknowable, Logan. I understand that you crave knowledge, I am the same way. I understand that you seek comfort in your understanding of the world around you, but even Virgil could not fathom that he would respond in the way he did until it happened. It never happened in this particular way before, thus we would have no way of knowing that certain questions pertaining to pensieves, left unanswered, would trigger Virgil,"_  Professor Picani explained.  _"Were you to continue on the subject with the full knowledge that it would drive Virgil into a panic attack, that would be one thing. But you did not know."_  
  
 _"I guess...I just wish that I could have done more,"_  Logan admitted.  
  
 _You did a lot. You were there for me. You helped bring me back from the edge,_  Virgil wrote, then flashed a small smile Logan's way.  _Thanks._  
  
 _"You-you're welcome,"_  Logan replied in a somewhat stiff voice, clearly taken aback by the response that he received.

 _"Now where were we?"_  Professor Picani smiled, and Virgil and Logan returned the gesture.


	21. Chapter 21

Virgil retrieved his wand, which he'd dropped in the commotion, and held it to his temple.  
  
 _"You can sit this out if you would like,"_  Logan told him.  
  
Virgil shook his head. He  _could_ , but he did not want to. Now that he knew the spell to retrieve a memory for the pensieve would not adversely effect the memory within his mind, he felt a lot more at ease.   
  
Professor Picani, to his credit, let this brief exchange between Virgil and Logan occur with no interruption, and waited until Logan placed his own wand at his temple before he continued.

 _"Before we continue, I should probably get a few vials ready, just in case. We won't be able to look at all three memories at once, after all,"_  Professor Picani explained.  
  
...well that answered  _that_  question. Professor Picani rummaged around in his bag and retrieved three empty vials. He handed one each to Virgil and Logan, then pocketed the third, presumably for ease of reach. Virgil followed Professor Picani's lead, slipping his into the pocket of his hoodie. Logan, on the other hand, had no pockets large enough to place the vial, and thus held the vial within his right hand as he kept his wand at his temple.  
  
 _"Good. Now, you may be able to do this with your eyes open eventually, but it's easiest at the beginning to close your eyes when you're thinking of the memory you wish to extract. As I said before, concentrate hard on that memory, trying to clear your mind of distractions, and slowly pull your wand away from your temple. If it works correctly, you should have a thin, silvery strand at the tip of your wand, which you will then place in your vial. You will feel it when this happens, so there is no need to worry about it happening without your noticing. Let's give it a try,"_  Professor Picani announced.  
  
Virgil balked. He wanted them to try  _now_? Were they even ready?  
  
A quick glance at Logan showed that Logan had his eyes closed and his eyebrows furrowed. Clearly  _Logan_  was ready - or was simply attempting to give off the illusion that he was. Either way, Virgil saw no point in arguing, so he closed his eyes and tried to think of a memory.  
  
...only he wasn't sure which memory to zero in on.  
  
Unlike Logan, Virgil was not targeting a specific memory with this. Virgil was doing this simply to learn  _how_  to do it - Logan had a reason to do it. They were trying to see if they could parse any parts of Virgil's prophecy from Logan's memory. That meant that Logan was going in with a purpose. Virgil didn't have one, and thus he spent the first minute or two trying to decide which memory he even wanted to go for.  
  
He didn't want to go for anything too negative - which, of course, meant that a number of less than pleasant memories shot to the forefront of his mind immediately. It might do some good to reanalyze those memories at some point, as they might contain information that he and the others missed during the heat of the moment, but he didn't want that to be the focal point of his  _first_ pensieve memory.  
  
He opened his eyes, watching Logan's attempts to draw the memory forth from the side of his head. Virgil watched a couple of unsuccessful attempts on Logan's part, and he'd be damned if that didn't make him feel even more uncomfortable. If Logan -  _Logan_ , who often got things on the  _first try_  - wasn't successful, then what were Virgil's chances?  
  
Virgil reminded himself that ultimately, it didn't  _matter_  whether he succeeded or not. It wasn't his memory that they were after, it was Logan's. Virgil decided to focus on New Years Eve a couple of years before at his Uncle Rembrandt's and Aunt Helena's. He pulled his wand from his temple the moment this memory became the focal point of his mind.  
  
...Professor Picani said he was supposed to  _feel_  something, right? Then he must be doing it wrong. Either that or he didn't know what he was supposed to feel - but if Professor Picani said that he would be able to feel it, it would probably be a feeling that stood out, one that he would recognize as such immediately.  
  
He tried it again, still with no success. He opened his eyes, turning to see how Logan was doing. He watched Logan as Logan's eyes scrunched tight. With a deep breath, Logan slowly moved his wand back from his head. Only this time, a silvery strand, barely thicker than a human hair, came along with it.  
  
Logan's eyes went wide at once as he peered at the strand, awestruck.  
  
 _"Quick, put it in your vial,"_  Professor Picani urged him, causing Virgil to jump slightly. He was so caught up in his own attempts and checking on Logan's that he very nearly forgot that Professor Picani was with them in the first place.  
  
Logan moved the vial beneath his wand and gingerly dropped the strand into the vial before sealing it with a cork. Then he let out a massive sigh of what Virgil could only assume was relief, and Virgil could not help but chuckle.  
  
The chuckle caused Logan to turn his way.  _"Did you succeed in retrieving a memory to view in the pensieve?"_  
  
Virgil shook his head, but waved his hand.  
  
 _"I am willing to wait-"_  Logan began, but Virgil shook his head once more, retrieving his writing utensils and jotting out a quick message.  
  
 _We got what we need. We did this so we could look at your memory. I can always practice later,_ Virgil shrugged. And he  _could_. It was more important to figure out what the prophecy said, in case it was something that they absolutely needed to know.  
  
 _"Are you certain?"_  Logan frowned.  
  
Virgil arched an eyebrow as if to say 'really?', then nodded.  
  
Logan took in a deep breath, then looked to Professor Picani.  _"I guess there is nothing else to it, then. What do we do next, Professor Picani?"_


	22. Chapter 22

Virgil glanced at the basin, still wondering how this was going to work. Would the memory play out atop the liquid, like a screen? He knew all his questions would be answered in time, but he remained curious (and a little apprehensive) nevertheless.  
  
_"Do I...deposit the memory into the basin?"_  Logan asked with some hesitancy. Logan too recognized the importance of viewing what was in that memory, yet he was clearly nervous about the whole ordeal. Not that Logan would actually voice this, but Virgil knew him well enough to instantly tell.  
  
Professor Picani nodded.  _"You can do it if you'd like, or you could have me do it!"_  he responded.  
  
Logan paused a moment, then held the vial previously encased tightly within his hand in his palm, his arm outstretched toward Professor Picani.  _"As I have not actually witnessed a pensieve in action, you may do the honors and I will observe you."_  
  
Professor Picani accepted the vial and removed the cork that prohibited the vial's contents from escaping. He held the vial over the basin, inverting it mere inches from its surface.  
  
No images appeared within atop the contents of the basin, and Virgil wondered if it was working.  
  
He glanced to Professor Picani with a confused expression. His countenance quickly morphed to shock when he observed Professor Picani stick his  _finger_  into the pensieve next.

Logan took a step forward.  _"Is it working properly?"_  
  
_"There's only one way to find out,"_  Professor Picani answered jovially, then leaned over the basin until his nose was practically touching the contents within. Then they  _were_.  
  
"Whoa, what?" Virgil blurted out before he could stop himself. His hand immediately flew to his mouth, covering it. He knew it came out as gibberish. He didn't even  _mean_  for it to come out in the first place.  
  
Professor Picani was peering at him in concern.  _"Are you alright, Virgil?"_  
  
Virgil retrieved his pen and paper and hastily wrote out a more detailed question for Professor Picani.  _Why were you putting your face in it?_  
  
_"Because I can't really go in feet first?"_  Professor Picani responded with a puzzled expression.  
  
Virgil stared.  _Did you just say go in?_  he scribbled out, hardly believing his ears.  
  
_"Oh, I suppose I never explained that part to you and the others,"_ Logan realized.  
  
Virgil lifted an eyebrow as if to say 'you think?'. Logan lifted an eyebrow in return, then continued.  
  
_"The pensieve functions almost like a portal into the memory that you place into it. Instead of watching it play out as if it were on a screen, we will be transported back to the time when it all occurred once we enter the pensieve,"_  Logan explained.

 _We're going to be in the room where it happened?_  Virgil wrote in reply, his eyes wide.  
  
_"No one else was in the room where it happened, the room where it happened, the room where it happened,"_  Professor Picani sung in an unfamiliar tune. He had a surprisingly good singing voice, Virgil realized.  
  
_"Is that from Hamilton?"_  Logan eyed him.   
  
_"Of course!"_  Professor Picani responded.  
  
_"I thought your Muggle references were usually animation related,"_  Logan remarked.  
  
_"Hey, I can appreciate art in whatever form it comes in!"_ Professor Picani grinned.

Virgil cleared his throat to remind the two that he was still present and still...well, not particularly  _confused_  at this point. He understood well enough what they were supposed to do, he was just stunned that they had to do it in the first place. This was not what he'd been expecting at all.  
  
He also had a feeling that this would  _not_  be the last time he'd say something like that in the course of the day's events.  
  
_"Logan, would you like to go first as it is your recollection?"_ Professor Picani wondered.  
  
_"I thought you were about to enter when Virgil had his outburst?"_ Logan replied.  
  
_"I was, but I figured you should have the honor of going first if you want to, since this is your memory,"_  Professor Picani argued.  
  
Logan shrugged and stepped forward.  _"I will admit that I am...eager to see where this may lead. I suppose I will see you on the other side, so to speak."_  And with that, Logan entered the pensieve.  
  
Even if Virgil  _could_  speak normally, he would have been rendered speechless by that. Logan literally  _entered_  the pensieve. It was one thing hearing it, and another entirely to witness.  
  
_"Batter up!"_  Professor Picani called out, causing a sharp jolt to course through Virgil.

Virgil stared at Professor Picani as if to say 'really?'. Professor Picani at least had the sense to look sheepish.  
  
_"Sorry, didn't realize I'd catch you off guard like that! Anyway, you can go next. I'll go in last,"_  Professor Picani told him.  
  
Virgil was tempted not to go  _at all_ , but Logan already entered the pensieve and he didn't want to leave Logan by himself in the event that he was facing something dangerous. In any case, Professor Picani was already waiting for him as well. He took a deep breath to summon all the courage that he could muster and slowly lowered his face into the pensieve.   
  
The closer he grew to its surface, a murky image of his mother's bathroom down the hall began to appear. This wasn't what he was expecting to happen, but given Logan's retelling of the events, he supposed that he shouldn't be surprised that they would be taken to this particular locale. Virgil wondered why they couldn't just watch what happened from the safety of the room they were in at that very moment, then realized he couldn't exactly make out many of the details on the surface of the pensieve on account of it being so small. He leaned in a little closer to see if that would help - if he could avoid literally  _entering_  some magic device to see what happened, he would prefer to take that route instead.  
  
His stomach lurched the moment his nose touched the surface and Virgil immediately realized that there was no turning back now. The last thing he heard before pitching face first into the pensieve was a cheering Picani.  
  
He'd have a few words for the good professor later.


	23. Chapter 23

Virgil suddenly felt as though he'd been thrown face first into the lake in front of Hogwarts - only he wasn't  _wet_. It was, however, just as cold and dark as he would imagine it would be.  
  
He opened his eyes to find that he was in his mother's bathroom. Logan stood at the sink washing his hands. Thankful that he didn't have to look far to find Logan, Virgil went to tap on Logan's shoulder to notify his boyfriend that he'd arrived.  
  
He instead found that his hand went  _through_  Logan's shoulder. It was at that precise moment that Virgil someone tap on his shoulder, and he whirled around at once, letting out a long hiss as he did so. A hiss that abruptly stopped once he saw who tapped him on the shoulder.  
  
 _"...did you just hiss at me?"_  Logan blinked.  
  
Virgil gawped. He glanced back at the Logan at the sink - who was now dabbing off his hands - then back to the Logan that tapped him on the shoulder. Then he glanced back at the Logan dabbing his hands again...  
  
 _"That is the past version of me,"_  Logan explained helpfully.  _"We cannot interact with him because the events of this memory have already occured. We can only observe."_  
  
...okay, but there were still  _two_  Logans in the room, and that was going to take some getting used to.  
  
 _"Ehhhh...what's up, Doc?"_  Virgil and Logan heard from behind them, Virgil startling once more at the sudden outburst - especially as it was said in an unfamiliar voice to him.  
  
 _"Bugs Bunny,"_  Logan replied to Professor Picani nonchalantly, presumably identifying the impression that Professor Picani made.  _"Also, I would be careful as to the approach you take to greeting Virgil. He hisses."_  
  
Virgil let out another hiss at Logan for effect, a smaller one this time, and Logan responded with a self-satisfied smirk, gesturing to Virgil as if to say 'see?'.  
  
 _"Smashing!"_  Professor Picani announced, stroking his chin as he gazed at Virgil as if he were some sort of brand new discovery.  
  
Logan sighed.  _"Nigel Thornberry, The Wild Thornberries."_  
  
 _"Oh, you're familiar with that one?"_  Professor Picani smiled.  
  
 _"I did watch some cartoons when I was a child, and The Wild Thornberries could be educational at times,"_  Logan explained with a shrug.  
  
Professor Picani peered at the Logan in front of the mirror, who was now combing his hair.  _"Is this the correct memory?"_ he wondered.  
  
Logan nodded.  _"In fact, I recall that I had just finished combing my hair when I heard the commotion from the room next door and hastened to venture over at once."_  
  
 _"So in your haste you might have missed something?"_  Professor Picani guessed eagerly.  
  
 _"That is my hope, lest we have to rely on Deceit's account,"_ Logan frowned and shook his head adamantly at the thought.  
  
Virgil swallowed. He certainly  _hoped_  that was the case - he'd hate to have gone through all of this trouble for nothing.

 _"I mean there could be worse-"_  Professor Picani started, but froze when a deep voice boomed from the next room over. Virgil, Logan, and Professor Picani weren't the only ones whose gazes immediately shot toward the wall - The Logan at the sink immediately set his brush down and paused.   
  
The voice boomed again, and the Logan at the sink immediately headed for the door.  
  
A chill went through Virgil, and this time he knew it wasn't because of the pensieve - it was because of his  _voice_. He knew that was his voice. He knew Seers spoke in voices that were harsh and hardly anything like their speaking voice - he'd seen that in action with Era - but it was another thing entirely to hear his  _own_  voice when he was making a prophecy. And he had a feeling that he'd never have an opportunity like this again.  
  
It wasn't just that he was hearing his voice while under the influence of the Sight either - it was that he was hearing his voice in  _general_. He spoke so rarely at this point, knowing that his friends, family, and anyone else would only hear it as gibberish, so what was the point? The  _only_  point at which anyone could understand his voice was while he was giving a prophecy - something that he wasn't even consciously aware of as it happened. Talk about rubbing salt in the wound.  
  
Virgil, Logan, and Professor Picani stuck close behind the Logan depicted in the memory, trying their best to be quiet so that they might make out what the  _Virgil_  depicted in the memory was prophesying.  
  
"Fear...succumb...unlikely..." Virgil let out a sigh of frustration as he continued to listen . He was making out  _some_  words, which was better than nothing, but they certainly weren't getting the whole prophecy like they'd hoped.  
  
"The specter, though ethereal, may be more dangerous than it appears." Virgil's head snapped up at once.  _That_  he made out perfectly fine. He glanced over at Logan and Professor Picani, who shared similar expressions - Virgil could only assume they'd made out the same words. "The past will never die."  
  
They watched as Logan pulled open the door, and the memory's version of Deceit turned to greet the memory's version of Logan at once. Virgil even caught a glimpse of his unconscious form slumping forward slightly in his seat just as he finished giving the prophecy. Despite everything he'd been through, Virgil still found the sight of this uncomfortably surreal.  
  
At that point, though, the room darkened, and Virgil, Logan, and Professor Picani soon found themselves in their original locations just outside of the pensieve. The group exchanged looks, though remained silent. It seemed as though no one wanted to be the first to speak about what they'd just witnessed - and heard, for that matter.  
  
 _"Well, that was enlightening,"_  Logan commented after a moment or so elapsed.  
  
Virgil agreed. They certainly got  _something_  out of their trip into the pensieve - but was it enough? There was only one way to find out - They'd have to share their findings with their friends. 


	24. Chapter 24

_"So let me get this straight..."_  Era began.  
  
_"Good luck with that,"_  Roman smirked.  
  
Era rolled her eyes and tossed a pillow at Roman.  _"Picani had a pensieve?"_  
  
_"He had the potion that goes into the pensieve pre-brewed, and Virgil found a bowl to use as a basin,"_  Logan explained.  
  
_"So you did all this...and didn't think to call us over at any point?"_ Elliott arched one of their eyebrows as they folded their arms across their chest.   
  
_"Dude._  So  _not cool,"_  Shane added.  
  
_We didn't want to risk Deceit finding out and trying to sabotage our efforts,_  Virgil informed them.  _Inviting an entire group of people over might have raised a few alarms._  
  
_"Now wait, we don't know for certain that Deceit would actually sabotage our efforts,"_  Paige reasoned.  
  
_"I mean...he doesn't exactly have the best track history?"_  Roman retorted.  _"That said, you are technically correct."_  
  
_"Still, I thought we needed to act with an abundance of caution,"_ Logan further elaborated.  
  
_"Why?"_  Elliott asked.  _"He's already heard the prophecy. Is hearing it again going to give him any extra advantage?"_  
  
_"Well, he could feel threatened when and if he finds out that we know more about it, considering how hesitant he was to tell us about it in the first place,"_  Astrit pointed out.  _"And I don't think any of us want to see what a snake will do when it's cornered."_  
  
_"Guys, we're getting off track,"_  Era called out, cupping her hands over her mouth to amplify her voice.

Chelsea looked at her and snickered.  _"Did you forget you were a witch?"_  
  
Era looked at her girlfriend in puzzlement.  _"What do you mean?"_  
  
Chelsea let out another snicker and pointed her wand at Era's throat.  _"Sonorus. Try it now, babe."_  
  
_"Listen!"_  Era's voice boomed through the room. Everyone was already paying attention other than Elliott and Shane, whose gazes immediately shifted toward Era at her modified voice. She mouthed a 'thank you' to a satisfied looking Chelsea, then continued.  _"Let's hear what the prophecy said."_  
  
Everyone's eyes turned to Virgil and Logan. Virgil attempted to ignore this and met Logan's eyes instead. They exchanged a look.  
  
_"You...do know what the prophecy says, right?"_  Patton asked cautiously.  
  
_"Don't tell me we went through all of this for nothing!"_  Roman balked.  _"We're still finding random patches of green on the walls from the disaster yesterday!"_  
  
_"Well it has only been one day. Call us when its been a week or more,"_  Chelsea told him with a snort.  
  
_"We didn't hear the prophecy-"_  Logan began.   
  
A course of groans erupted throughout the room.  
  
_"It was all for nothing!"_  Roman sighed dramatically.  _"And after we tried so hard too!"_  
  
_"...if you would let me finish,"_  Logan cleared his throat, the slightest hint of irrational in his tone.  _"We didn't hear the prophecy in its entirety."_  
  
A brief silence swept over the room.  _"...oh,"_  Patton replied at last.  
  
_"Well why didn't you just say that in the first place?!"_  Roman cried in frustration.  
  
_"I tried, you would not let me finish!"_  Logan protested.  
  
_"...keeping on task is one of our weakest points, isn't it?"_  Era said to Virgil after pointing to her throat to lower her voice with a bemused expression, followed by a sigh.  
  
Virgil let out a snort and shook his head in reply. He slipped his hands out of his pockets and folded his arms across his chest.

 _"So you did hear part of the prophecy then?"_  Paige realized.  
  
Virgil nodded. Logan pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, unfolding it and clearing his throat.  _"We heard, and I quote, 'The specter, though ethereal, may be more dangerous than it appears.' We also heard the words fear, succumb, and unlikely, though we were unable to determine the context that they were delivered in, as we could not comprehend the words spoken around them."_  
  
_"So...we have one sentence and a few other words. That's a ton of help,"_  Elliott sighed.  
  
_"I mean to be fair, most of things are only a few sentences long anyway,"_  Astrit shrugged, clearly trying to lighten the mood.  
  
_"I mean, it's better than nothing you guys!"_  Patton pointed out.  _"We know that there's a specter involved, and that it's dangerous! ...what is a specter?"_  
  
_"A specter is usually a ghost,"_  Chelsea replied.  
  
_"In the most literal of forms, yes. It can also refer to an idea itself that people may find frightening, or a frightening possibility,"_ Logan elaborated.  
  
_"...couldn't that definition be applied to a prophecy in itself?"_ Shane frowned.  
  
_"Technically? Yes it could,"_  Logan agreed.

 _"Keep in mind that the prophecy said that it was something that was more dangerous than it appeared,"_  Era pointed out.  _"So it sounds like it's something that doesn't seem like much of a threat at first that turns out to be a much larger threat."_  
  
_"Couldn't that be applied to a lot of things in our life, though?"_ Shane noted.  
  
_"Don't forget the word ethereal! That means delicate or light!"_ Paige explained.  
  
_"That's not the only thing that it can mean,"_  Elliott said darkly.  _"It can also mean unworldly, and that can carry with it much more negative connotations."_  
  
_"...why can't it be a happy prophecy? Why does it have to be a scary or evil one?"_  Roman rolled his eyes.  
  
_"It may not be,"_  Era commented.  _"Both specter and ethereal can have positive and negative connotations to it. It's only the 'dangerous' part that we need to worry about."_  
  
_"The prophecy is warning that the so-called 'ethereal specter' may be more dangerous than it appears, though. I dunno about you, but that seems to be hinting that we should leaning toward the negative connotations when trying to decipher this thing!"_ Chelsea argued.  
  
Roman made eye contact with Virgil and huffed.  _"Why can't you make prophecies that make more sense? It would make our jobs a whole hell of a lot easier."_  
  
Virgil blinked in surprise, not expecting the conversation to turn back to him. He then arched his eyebrow.  _You really think I have control over these things?_  he wrote.  
  
_"Well...no, but you should learn control!"_  Roman countered.  
  
_"...is it even possible to learn how to control the Sight?"_  Patton furrowed his brow in confusion.  
  
_Yeah, I'll get right to work on that,_  Virgil scribbled in reply, then shot Roman a sarcastic thumbs up that the Gryffindor quickly returned.  
  
_"So...we have our work cut out for us again, don't we?"_  Shane said with a sigh.  
  
_"Course we do. That's the story of our lives,"_  Astrit responded with a wry grin.  
  
_"We can always look on the bright side!"_  Patton announced, his smile faltering only slightly at many skeptical looks that greeted him in return.  _"What? We don't have to keep fiddling around with that pensieve!"_  
  
Virgil let out a snort. He supposed that was a fair point on Patton's part.


	25. Chapter 25

After they departed from Patton and Roman's, Virgil and Logan set to work on a list of possible theories pertaining to the prophecy. Some were more likely than others, but so long as they were even remotely within the realm of possibility? Logan would write them in his notebook.  
  
Professor Picani would even occasionally peek his head in to see if they were making any progress and offer input. He didn't participate  _much_ , recognizing that this was primarily Virgil and Logan's gig, but he offered just the right amount of support, which was kind of nice.  
  
A lot nicer than things were with  _Deceit_.  
  
Ever since the night Virgil gave the prophecy, Deceit was behaving in a suspicious matter. He rarely stopped to make any snide comments toward Virgil or Logan, and even seemed to be actively avoiding them whenever he could. Virgil did catch Deceit looking at him with a contemplative expression one day as he waited for Logan in the hall, but then he turned and continued on his way when Logan stepped out into the hall as well  
  
Logan was discussing pensieves in another room with Professor Picani one night. He'd been gone for a while, so when Virgil heard a knock at their bedroom door, he figured it was Logan returning.  
  
The realization that Logan would not bother to  _knock_  before entering the bedroom he shared with Virgil occurred seconds too late, and the door was already halfway open.

Virgil narrowed his eyes and squared his shoulders as he glared at his brother.  
  
Deceit arched a brow at that.  _"Its a pleasure to see you too, Virgil. May I step inside for a moment?"_  
  
Virgil pointed his finger down the hallway, back toward Deceit's room.  
  
Deceit huffed.  _"Not even willing to hear me out? How kind of you."_  
  
Virgil leveled one last stony glare at Deceit before he began to shut the door.  
  
 _"No, wait!"_  Deceit held his hand out to block the door from shutting. Virgil tried to push harder, but Deceit met him with equal force.  _"I...did not...did...I wanted to tell you something."_  
  
Virgil continued to push on the door. Deceit let out a heavy sigh of frustration.  _"I...I apologize,"_  he said at last.  
  
Virgil's hand slipped away from the door at once as he gaped at his brother in surprise.  
  
 _"Huh, that was easier than I thought that would be - in any case,"_  Deceit began, but then Virgil regained his composure and went to slam the door in Deceit's face once more.  
  
 _"Whoa, whoa, did I look finished? Cause I wasn't finished!"_  Deceit protested.   
  
Virgil arched an eyebrow.  
  
 _"Jeez, tough crowd,"_  Deceit scratched at the back of his neck with his free hand.  
  
Virgil stared back, raising the same eyebrow higher.  
  
 _"You're going to make me do all of the talking aren't you? Well alright, I suppose I do deserve that,"_  Deceit deduced.  _"It was...I should not have asked for an apology."_  
  
Virgil nodded. Encouraged by this reaction, however minute, from Virgil, Deceit continued.  _"You were...you were right, dammit. I deserved no apology. You did. Happy now?"_  
  
Virgil shook his head.  
  
 _"....seriously?"_  Deceit actually sounded frustrated.  _Good._  
  
 _"That's...look, this isn't exactly easy for me..."_  Deceit started again. Virgil let out a snort.  
  
 _"...I suppose you're right. It's not supposed to be easy, is it?"_  Deceit remarked.  _"I saw you, Logan, and Professor Picani talking the other night."_  
  
Virgil's stomach lurched, and he reached for the door and pushed. Deceit very neatly got his  _fingers_  smashed, but he was able to push back in time to avoid the door closing on him.  
  
"Stop this," Virgil snarled.  
  
 _"I haven't the faintest idea what you said, but it doesn't sound as though you are very pleased,"_ Deceit observed.  
  
Virgil rolled his eyes. The  _last_  person he wanted to witness that was Deceit, so of  _course_  Deceit had to see it, because that was just Virgil's luck! Deceit probably got a good laugh out of it too...  
  
 _"I'm sorry,"_  Deceit said at once. But this time it sounded  _genuine_ , and boy did  _that_  catch Virgil off guard. Deceit was capable of being sorry for something?  
  
 _"You don't have to look so surprised,"_  Deceit commented with a wry grin. Virgil remained on defense, but he was undoubtedly curious by this point.   
  
 _"I recognize that I have not been particularly kind to you, and I can only partially blame that on our father's influence,"_  Deceit admitted.  
  
Virgil's eyes widened. Wait, was this an  _actual_...what the hell was going on?  
  
 _"I...never considered the potential impact on you. I never...I knew you suffered, but - the word that Professor Picani used,"_  Deceit's voice was a tad uneven by this point.  
  
 _"Trauma. I never considered that it could be considered trauma, what you have been through. What...what father put you through,"_  Deceit gave an involuntary shudder.   
  
 _"And what I put you through,"_  he added, in a voice barely louder than a whisper.

Virgil...wasn't sure what to make of this display. He  _wanted_  to believe that Deceit was sincere, but could he afford to do so?

 _"You don't have to forgive me for that,"_  Deceit told him.  _"But I...I will do my best to take that into consideration from now on. And that, believe it or not, is the honest truth."_  
  
Virgil continued to eye Deceit. When Deceit wavered a little under his gaze, Virgil could not help but feel a faint sense of satisfaction that he was making Deceit uncomfortable, as Deceit had done to him for  _years_.  
  
Yet...Deceit  _listened_. Deceit actually made the effort to understand what Virgil asked of him the night of the prophecy, and was attempting to make things right. His attempts were clumsy at best, but they were still  _attempts_.  
  
 _"I cannot promise you that I will always be the best older brother, but..."_  Deceit stopped when Virgil held up his hand and gestured to the pad he was holding, pointing to the words he'd written there.  
  
 _Shut up, asshole._  But he had a half smile on his face the whole time.  
  
 _"Well then. We are approaching uncharted territory,"_  Deceit announced.  
  
Virgil rolled his eyes.  _You're just as extra as Roman, Dee._  
  
Deceit immediately plastered a mock offended look on his face.  
  
But judging from the way the tension melted from his shoulders after he read Virgil's note? He read what Virgil called him - and recognized that Virgil's use of the name 'Dee', a nickname he hadn't used in  _years_ , was a step forward for the two.


	26. Chapter 26

_"You made up with your brother. You_  made up  _with your brother,"_ Logan stared.  
  
Virgil shrugged, removing a few more books from the box on the cart he and Logan were working off of.  
  
 _"Why would you do that? You know that we cannot trust him!"_ Logan insisted.  
  
Virgil finished shelving the books in his hands before retrieving his pad and pen.  _I don't trust him. Not yet anyway._  
  
 _"But you made up with him!"_  Logan repeated.  
  
 _I wouldn't exactly call it making up with him,_  Virgil wrote.  
  
 _"Oh? What would you categorize it as then?"_  
  
 _Talking. Discussing. Whatever. He talked, I wrote, we each said a few things,_  Virgil explained.  
  
 _"And that absolves him of blame for everything he has done?"_  
  
 _Seriously, Logan?_    
  
 _"You said you were giving him a chance!"_  
  
 _Giving him a chance is a lot different than forgiving him._    
  
Logan sighed.  _"...I apologize. You are correct. I just...it is incredibly difficult for me to do this when I have had to bear witness to the way you have been treated by your father and brother for years."_  
  
 _Join the club,_  Virgil wrote with a wry grin.  _If it makes you feel better, I think he's finding it difficult too._  
  
 _"...it does, actually. Thank you for your assistance, Virgil."_  
  
Virgil chuckled.  _No problem, Lo._  He and Logan both grabbed another handful of books and began to shelve them.  
  
Logan's primary job would be to assist shoppers with finding the supplies they desired once back to school shopping began, but they were still gearing up for the rush. As a result, there were a  _lot_  of books coming in as preparation for the busy season, and that meant Logan was helping where he was needed most - stocking.

It would be a lot easier for Virgil and Logan to carry on a conversation while they worked if Virgil could communicate verbally, but they made due with what they had. Virgil reached into the box and pulled out another stack of books. Logan went to do the same thing, frowning as his hand touched the bottom of the box.  
  
 _"Already? I thought for certain that we would have more books in that box. How many more do we have remaining?"_  Logan wondered.  
  
Virgil gestured to the three other empty boxes that they'd gone through, then shook his head.  
  
 _"We've already finished?"_  Logan blinked in surprise, and Virgil nodded.  _"I would have sworn that we had more books...ah, well, I suppose I should not complain."_  
  
Virgil let out a snort, then handed a few books in the pile off to Logan so that he could help shelve the last pile. When they finished, they returned to Madam Legere for further instruction.  
  
 _"That is all I had for you to do today. I expect another delivery Friday, though, so I expect to see you in for your shift then,"_ Madam Legere told them.  
  
Logan peered at his watch as they were walking out of Flourish and Blotts.  _"Huh, more time has surpassed than I initially surmised. It is almost 4pm."_  
  
So they were only leaving about 20 minutes early. That wasn't  _too_  bad.  
  
 _"Is there anywhere that you might like to go before we head back to your mother's flat, Virgil?"_  Logan inquired.  
  
Virgil was about to shake his head, but then he spotted the Magical Menagerie out of the corner of his eye and recalled that  _Patton_  ought to be working. He pointed at the building, hoping that Logan would be able to decipher what he was trying to say.

Logan squinted in the direction Virgil was pointing in, a look of comprehension dawning on his features.  _"You want to visit the Magical Menagerie to see if Patton is working today?"_  
  
Virgil nodded. He  _knew_  that Patton was working, actually, but in lieu of pulling his pad out and expressly communicating this, it was much easier to just nod.  
  
Virgil and Logan ventured across the street and were immediately greeted by a cacophony of animal noises as they stepped inside.   
  
 _"Hello and welcome to...Virgil! Logan! Hey guys!"_  Patton beamed from his spot at the counter.  
  
 _"Strange, I was under the impression that the name of the store was the Magical Menagerie,"_  Logan commented drily. Virgil burst into laughter, as Patton blinked in surprise before snickering himself.  
  
 _"What brings you two in here? I thought you were working!"_ Patton wondered.  
  
 _"We were. We just left for the day,"_  Logan explained curtly.  
  
 _"And you came in to visit? How nice!"_  Patton smiled.  _"Oh...is there anything I can assist you with? Maybe some food or toys for your little critters?"_  
  
 _"I could use some owl treats for my owl,"_  Logan murmured thoughtfully.  _"Patton, could you direct me to the owl treats?"_  
  
 _"Of course! Follow me!"_  Patton stepped out from behind the counter and motioned for Logan to follow him.  
  
Virgil thought about following, but then spotted a few cat toys. He could always get something new for Storm. After perusing for a moment, he decided on a new cat bed instead of a toy. About to head back to the front, Virgil stopped when he spotted a few cages to the left of the cat toys. His eyes widened at what he saw inside of them.

Virgil did not need another pet. An owl, perhaps, if circumstance necessitated it, but he was content with Storm. 

He didn't  _need_  another pet, but...the tarantulas sitting in the cages next to the cat toys caught his attention.  
  
The last time he'd gotten a pet, everything went wrong. That being said,  _this_  time he could be certain that any pet tarantulas he adopted would not actually be his older brother in disguise.  
  
Still...would Storm tolerate another pet?   
  
Virgil supposed he would find out soon enough. He went to scope out another associate, as Patton was still busy helping Logan - and besides, Patton was  _terrified_  of spiders. 


	27. Chapter 27

Storm sat perched at the end of Virgil's bed, her tail wagging back and forth. Her eyes were focused intently on the arachnid resting within the cage that sat on the end of the dresser.  
  
That said, she was not  _hissing_  at it, so that was a good sign.   
  
 _"Have you thought of a name for her yet?"_  Logan asked, looking up from a book that he was reading.  
  
Virgil chewed on his bottom lip as he took a closer look at the tarantula. He wanted a name that  _fit_ \- It was why he'd changed Storm's name to...well,  _Storm_  once he inherited her from Deceit.  
  
What sort of name would be good for a tarantula, though?

 _"Theraphosidae,"_  Logan answered.  
  
 _...that's kind of a long name. Maybe Thera for short?_  Virgil wrote in reply.  
  
 _"No, theraphosidae is the scientific name for what is commonly referred to as a tarantula,"_  Logan clarified.  _"Though I don't dislike the name Thera, should you select it. It is a city of antiquity located on what is the present day Greek island of Santorini."_  
  
 _Doesn't really seem like a spider-ish name,_  Virgil responded.  
  
 _"What about Peter Parker?"_  Professor Picani called out from the doorway with a grin.  
  
 _"Clever, but this arachnid is all spider and no man,"_  Logan retorted.  
  
 _"Spider spider, spider spider, does whatever a spider...spiders. Ah, that sounded better in my head,"_  Professor Picani sung, then chuckled.  
  
 _"Peter Parker is a superhero in Muggle comic books and other media that goes by the name of Spider Man,"_  Logan informed Virgil.  
  
Virgil nodded to show that he understood.  
  
He didn't have anything  _against_  the name, but he also wasn't particularly fond of it.  
  
 _"Also, the spider is female,"_  Logan told Professor Picani.  
  
 _"Gwen Stacy, then?"_  Professor Picani grinned.  
  
The corners of Logan's mouth twitched upward in spite of himself.  _"Gwen Stacy gained powers similar to Peter's in an alternate universe of the Spider-Man continuity."_  
  
He still wasn't a fan of Gwen, or Stacy, or any variation of that name for his spider.  
  
 _"I must ask that you do not go to Patton for help. The name William Snakespeare was clever, but I don't know if I could cope with another pet named after a pun,"_  Logan shook his head.  
  
 _William Snakespeare turned out to be Dee anyway,_  Virgil reminded Logan.  
  
 _"Dee? Who's Dee?"_  Professor Picani frowned in confusion.  
  
 _"It is a long story, but the shortest explanation is that it is one of Virgil's older brother's many nicknames,"_  Logan provided by way of explanation.  
  
 _"Is he aware of this nickname?"_  Professor Picani wondered.  
  
Virgil snorted.  _Aware of it? He helped create it._    
  
Technically Deceit only coined the nickname Deceit in itself; Dee was a nickname that came later from that pre-existing nickname.  
  
Professor Picani nodded, apparently satisfied with that explanation. He tapped on his chin, then suddenly let out a gasp and snapped his fingers.

 _"Did you think of something?"_  Logan inquired with a bemused expression.  
  
Professor Picani shook his head.  _"Nah, I just remembered that I had to pick something up at the store tomorrow. I'm fresh out of ideas."_  
  
 _"You? You're fresh out of ideas? You cannot think of any other cartoons with spiders in them? Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends? Charlotte's Web?"_  Logan arched an eyebrow.  
  
Virgil's eyes widened.  _Charlotte,_  he scribbled onto his paper, then held up for the other two to read.  
  
 _"...Charlotte? Well, she's a bit larger than the Charlotte in the story, but I think it fits her nicely,"_ Professor Picani chuckled.  
  
Virgil lifted the tarantula out of the cage and let it rest on his hand. He held the arachnid out for Storm to get a closer look.   
  
 _"Well, Storm? What do you think of Charlotte?"_  Professor Picani scratched behind Storm's ear. Storm meowed.  
  
Virgil figured that was about as close as they were going to get to an approval from Storm, and she was certainly reacting to Charlotte better than she reacted to William Snakespeare.  
  
...though given that William Snakespeare was actually a conniving  _Deceit_  in disguise, that stood to reason.

 _"Charlotte? Who is Charlotte?"_  Deceit's voice called out from the door.

Speak of the devil... 

Virgil was tempted to tell Deceit to leave, but then recalled their previous conversation and took a deep breath before turning and showing Charlotte to Deceit.  
  
Deceit blinked.  _"A tarantula? I see you stopped by the Magical Menagerie. I...have not considered visiting myself."_  
  
 _"Wait...are you speaking backward or are you speaking normally? Have you considered visiting yourself or have you not considered visiting for yourself?"_  Professor Picani asked.  
  
 _"Yes,"_  Deceit replied, the corners of his mouth twitching upward into a small smirk.  
  
 _"Well that's an immense help,"_  Logan huffed.  
  
 _"Would I have mentioned it were I not interested?"_  Deceit folded his arms across his chest and arched an eyebrow.  
  
 _"Well if you would just get straight to the point we wouldn't have to wonder!"_  Logan snapped.  
  
 _"Ha, since when do I do anything straight? That's going to be a tall order,"_  Deceit replied with a snicker before turning and leaving the room.   
  
The group departed from there, as it was getting late and they'd already determined a name for Charlotte - what drew Professor Picani in for the conversation in the first place.  
  
As he prepared for bed, Virgil made certain that Charlotte was kept safe from Storm in case she grew particularly  _playful_  and decided that Charlotte would make for a good hunting target; though also wanted to be certain that  _Storm_  was safe in the event that she felt threatened by the new arrival to her space. Thankfully she was fairly accepting of most other animals owing to her time spent at Hogwarts, but he still wanted to be certain.  
  
Charlotte and Storm. Virgil's two pets. He could only hope that his experience with  _this_  new pet would go much better than it did the first time around.   
  
And in the meantime, as Virgil settled into bed, he could not help but ponder his relationship with his older brother - Were things really about to change, or was Deceit pulling his leg? It was hard to get a good read on Deceit's motives, which left Virgil uncertain - and Virgil did not like being uncertain.


	28. Chapter 28

When Roman told Virgil that they needed to talk in a  _super_  serious tone, Virgil's mind went into overdrive. The last time Roman took him aside to talk, he'd told Virgil about his experiences with his family and  _Delilah_.  
  
Logan and Patton were discussing shared experiences being raised with at least one Muggle parent, something that Virgil and Roman couldn't relate to anyway.  
  
Roman cast a furtive glance behind him to make certain that Logan and Patton were still occupied. Virgil's gut did another somersault. It was so bad that Roman wanted to keep this from both Patton and Logan  _that_  much?  
  
Roman shuffled where he stood, briefly glancing down at his feet. Virgil could only assume Roman was trying to work up the courage to say what he needed to say; Virgil had not only been there and done that but he could write a book on it.   
  
Roman cleared his throat, casting one last glance to make sure that Logan and Patton weren't in the vicinity before speaking.  
  
 _"If I were to propose to you, do you think fireworks would be a tad overboard, or do you think they would add to the effect?"_    
  
"What?!" Virgil blurted out before he could stop himself, looking at Roman as if he'd just announced that he would never sing another word in his life.  
  
Why was Romam asking what  _he_  would do if Roman proposed to him when  _Patton_  was his boyfriend?

Roman immediately threw his hands up at once, waving them rapidly.  _"Wait wait wait, that came out wrong, that's not what I meant..."_  
  
Virgil let out a sigh of relief. He wasn't interested in Roman in that way. So why was he asking what would happen if he proposed to Vir-oh.  
  
Ohhhhhhh.  
  
Virgil retrieved his writing utensils from his pocket.  _You're thinking about proposing to Patton,_ Virgil deduced.  
  
It was Roman's turn to heave a sigh of relief.  _"Good, I don't have to spell it out for you. I just...I want it to be absolutely perfect, you know?"_  
  
 _Ro, I'm pretty sure he'll be happy to accept no matter what. He loves you more than anything,_ Virgil assured him.  
  
Roman shrugged.  _"Maybe so, but I don't want to do something run of the mill. He deserves something special."_  
  
Virgil couldn't help but chuckle. Of course Roman didn't want to do something run of the mill. Roman  _never_  wanted to do things run of the mill.   
  
Virgil just...couldn't understand why Roman was asking  _him_  of all people.  _Why me?_  he wrote, voicing those concerns.  
  
 _"What do you mean?"_  Roman blinked in confusion. Not exactly the response that Virgil was expecting.  
  
 _Obviously you can't ask Patton for advice, but why not ask Logan?_  Virgil wondered.   
  
 _"Um...no offense, but Logan's not the most romantic..."_  Roman began, but Virgil held up his hand and raised an eyebrow.  
  
 _Maybe not romantic in your definition of the word, but remember that you're talking about my BOYFRIEND. Just because he has his own ways of showing he cares doesn't mean he doesn't,_ Virgil insisted.  
  
 _"Oh boy. That's not...that's not what I meant at all. I didn't mean to insult you or Logan or anyone, it's just...I felt like you'd know what Patton would want better? I mean, you're his best friend..."_  Roman amended.  
  
 _Jeez Princey, you must be desperate if you're asking me,_  he jotted out with a grin.  
  
 _"Oh shut up,"_  Roman rolled his eyes.  
  
 _Hard to shut up when I've hardly opened my mouth during this entire conversation,_  Virgil retorted, gesturing down to his pad as if to emphasize his point.  
  
 _"...touche,"_  Roman replied after a short pause.  _"But seriously, what do you believe is the quickest way to Patton's heart?"_  
  
 _You've been his boyfriend for over two years, don't you think you know that better than I would?_ Virgil jotted out.  
  
 _"I mean...ugh, I dunno, I just want everything to go perfectly! You only get to propose to your boyfriend once!"_  Roman let out an exasperated sigh.  _"And I was hoping to find someone that I could bounce ideas off of."_  
  
Virgil cleared his throat, and Roman glanced up at him.  _You're nervous, aren't you?_  
  
 _"...is it that obvious?"_  Roman replied somewhat reluctantly.  
  
 _Painfully,_  Virgil wrote with a smirk.  _But it's like I said, Patton'll be happy with whatever you_  
  
 _"I know, I know,"_  Roman sighed, cutting Virgil off in the middle of writing.  _"You said-er, wrote, that already. I just want it to be special!"_  
  
 _Dude, you could propose in the dingiest vault in Gringotts and he'd find it special,_  Virgil responded.  _All it would take to make it special for Patton is having you there. Trust me on this._  
  
 _"I..."_  Roman faltered.  
  
 _Not saying you can't go all out. I'd be surprised if you didn't go all out. I'm just saying that Patton's not in it for all of that, he's in it for you. So don't worry so much about it falling short,_ Virgil continued.  
  
 _"...did you just tell me not to worry so much?"_  Roman arched a brow.  
  
Virgil nodded.  
  
 _"Isn't that a bit hypocritical, Panic! At The Everywhere?"_  Roman teased.  
  
Virgil threw his pen at Roman, but grinned nevertheless.  
  
The important part was that Roman understood where he was coming from, and the fact that Roman was in high enough spirits to throw lighthearted jabs in Virgil's direction was a sign that he was taking some of Virgil's words to heart.  
  
 _"Hey, what are you guys doing out there?"_  Patton called out from the next room. Roman's eyes widened the slightest bit, and Virgil chuckled and mimed zipping his lips.  
  
He didn't plan on ruining the surprise, especially when it would come as such a  _nice_  surprise for Patton. And how often did they get those?  
  
Roman nodded in gratitude, and the two headed back out to join their boyfriends.  
  
Though the conversation with Roman did get him to wondering whether he should consider proposing to Logan. They'd been dating for nearly as long as Patton and Roman had, after all. He wasn't sure if he was ready, but...was Logan? And was Logan just waiting for him to make the next move?


	29. Chapter 29

Virgil and Logan usually had similar shifts at Flourish and Blotts, but there were occasions where they would work at different times, or that one would have the day off while the other had to work. On one such day, Virgil opted to approach his mother to ask her a few questions.  
  
He cleared his throat as he entered the room. Renilda looked up from the book that she was reading. She smiled and placed a bookmark at the page she was at, then closed the book and set it aside.  _"Hey V!"_  
  
Virgil waved to his mother and took a seat. He pulled out his pad and pen. If his mother hadn't realized that he'd come in to talk to her, she'd certainly know now.  
  
 _"Uh oh. You look like a man on a mission,"_  Renilda noted.  
  
Virgil let out a snort and rolled his eyes at that.  _Just have a few questions to ask._  
  
 _"So you are on a mission, then,"_  Renilda reiterated.  
  
 _If you want to see it that way, sure,_  Virgil wrote in reply.  
  
 _"Does it have something to do with Logan?"_  
  
Virgil blinked in surprise at how  _easily_  his mother was able to guess at that.  
  
Renilda laughed.  _"What, surprised I was able to figure it out? It's not like it was hard. You picked a time when Logan was at work."_  
  
 _Now I see why you were sorted into Ravenclaw,_  Virgil wrote.  
  
Renilda let out another snicker.  _"Like I said, it wasn't hard to figure out, but thank you for the compliment nevertheless. So, what did you want to ask about that you didn't want Logan around for?"_  
  
Virgil glanced toward Deceit's door, making certain that Deceit wasn't lingering in the hallway or anywhere nearby to eavesdrop on him. The last thing he needed was  _Deceit_  using this against him. His relationship with Deceit might be on the mend, but Virgil still didn't trust him very well.  
  
 _Roman is talking about proposing to Patton,_  Virgil admitted.  
  
 _"Awww, that's lovely! I've always thought that they were an adorable couple!"_  Renilda smiled, though her smile faltered slightly as she thought more on the subject.  _"What does that have to do with Logan, though?"_  
  
Virgil shuffled a little in his seat, tempted to write 'nevermind' and head back to his room. But he couldn't exactly go back now that his mother knew  _part_  of the story. Renilda wasn't stupid; she'd likely work out the connection eventually even if Virgil did flee from the situation.  
  
It was honestly easier to just...get on with it.  
  
 _Do you think I should propose to Logan?_  Virgil jotted out, then turned the pad so that his mother could read it better.  
  
Renilda looked taken aback.  _"Marriage? Aren't you a bit young for marriage?"_  
  
Virgil let out a snort.  _Roman and Patton are the same age and you didn't have a problem with the two of them getting engaged,_ Virgil pointed out.  
  
 _"...well, that's different,"_  Renilda replied.  
  
 _How so?_  Virgil arched an eyebrow.  
  
 _"Because they're not my kids. You are,"_  Renilda reached out with one finger and booped Virgil on the nose.  
  
 _Muuuuuuuuuuum._  
  
Renilda giggled.  _"Wow, you really must be exasperated. You took the extra time to write out all of those extra u's."_  
  
Virgil's eyebrow went up even further.  
  
 _"Alright alright, I'm done teasing you..for now,"_  Renilda informed him once she'd regained her composure save for the occasional stray snicker.  _"In all seriousness, I think it depends on how you feel."_  
  
"Hmmm?" Virgil was taken aback by that suggestion.

 _"You're asking if me if I think you should do it, but I think that's a question that you should be asking yourself more than anyone else,"_  Renilda responded.   
  
 _What do you mean?_  Virgil scribbled onto the pad, wanting answers.  
  
 _"Don't propose to him because you feel pressured into doing so. Propose to him because you want to do so,"_  Renilda elaborated.  _"I do not dare to suggest that your relationship with Logan is anything like any of my previous relationships, but trust me when I say that rushing into marriage is not always for the best."_  
  
Virgil's eyes widened as he realized what Renilda meant, and he reached out to squeeze his mother's hand. She was right in that his relationship with Logan was far different than her relationship with Linus, but that marriage  _did_  serve as an important lesson in why rushing into a marriage did not always work out. Renilda married Linus because of pressure from outside forces. She undoubtedly cared for him at one point, Virgil did not doubt that, but he also recognized that their marriage was pushed by Renilda's parents, his grandmother and grandfather who cut off his Uncle Rembrandt when he married a Muggleborn. The same grandmother and grandfather he hadn't seen a glimpse of since Renilda broke off her marriage with Linus.  
  
Virgil didn't expect Logan to do a complete 180 and turn out to be  _anything_  like Linus - he'd already proven that he was far better than  _that_  bastard time and time again - but he also didn't want a proposal between the two of them to come simply because it felt like the thing he  _should_  be doing, just because Roman and Patton were doing it.  
  
And the truth of the matter was? Virgil didn't feel ready for marriage, or even  _engagement_. He and Logan still had to go back and repeat their seventh year. So did Roman and Patton, for that matter, but Roman and Patton were  _always_  more showy with their romance. Not that there was anything wrong with that, it was just how Patton and Roman's relationship worked, and they seemed content with that. It was somehow a lot easier to picture Patton and Roman walking around with engagement rings for the long haul than it was to picture the same thing with Virgil and Logan, who tended to be more deliberate in their actions concerning their romance.  
  
Virgil  _knew_  the importance that Logan placed on school, to the point where he'd worked himself into a state when he realized that Elliott, Shane, and Paige would be graduating while the rest of them would not.   
  
Not to mention that weddings were, to some extent, outdated overly expensive pageantry. If Patton and Roman wanted to engage in that he'd support it wholeheartedly, but Virgil didn't  _need_  a wedding to show his love for Logan. He loved Logan with or without a piece of paper to prove it.  
  
 _Thanks mum,_  Virgil wrote with a smile and gave his mother a quick hug.  
  
Renilda chuckled.  _"For what? All I did was tell you to look inside yourself for the answer. That said, I suppose that's easier said than done sometimes,"_  she winked.  
  
He was walking past Deceit's room when he heard cursing, and he pulled open the door at once.  
  
Deceit glanced up at once. For the briefest second, Virgil would swear that he saw a conflicted expression on Deceit's face, but as quick as it came it morphed into something neutral.  _"Entering without knocking? How polite, I know mother didn't raise you better,"_  he drawled.  
  
Virgil rolled his eyes and closed the door.


	30. Chapter 30

_"If you and Deceit are on better terms now, why don't you just ask him for the rest of the prophecy?"_  Chelsea asked Virgil the next time they were gathered, this time in the room that Chelsea, Era, and Astrit shared at the Leaky Cauldron.  
  
Shane and Paige had since gone home to visit their families, but Elliott was still lingering around Diagon Alley. They didn't particularly want to go home to their family, and Virgil couldn't say that he blamed them. Elliott's family might not be in the same league that the Thompsons or the Princes were, but they still sounded fairly toxic, with the exception of Elliott's sister.  
  
 _I feel like that'll just open up a whole new can of worms,_  Virgil wrote in reply.  
  
 _"You're still not sure if you can trust him,"_  Era deduced.  
  
 _"A logical move on Virgil's part, given Deceit's actions in the past,"_  Logan surmised.  
  
 _"He's actually making efforts to change, though,"_  Roman pointed out.  _"He shouldn't have asked for an apology like that, but what he did when he talked to Virgil after that? That shows growth."_  
  
 _"Real growth, though?"_  Astrit wondered.  
  
 _"That's the question on all of our minds, I think,"_  Patton murmured quietly.  _"I want to give him the benefit of the doubt, but I don't want any of us to get hurt in the process."_  
  
 _"If only there were a way to test his trustworthiness,"_  Chelsea frowned.  
  
 _"Maybe there is,"_  Elliott remarked.  
  
Roman let out a heavy sigh.  _"We need more than maybes! We need more information!"_  
  
 _"Well, I can't make any guarantees, but I'd say the idea I have is a bit more than a 'maybe',"_  Elliott replied.  
  
 _"...go on,"_  Roman eyed them with an intrigued expression.  
  
 _"We need to ask Deceit what the prophecy said,"_  Elliott announced.  
  
 _"...that's a nice idea, but we don't know if he's going to cooperate, remember?"_  Era pointed out.  _"The whole point of this is that we don't know if we can trust what he's saying, so how is asking him for the prophecy going to get us any closer to the answer?"_  
  
 _"Because we have enough information to tell if he's lying,"_  Elliott grinned.  
  
Virgil gasped. Elliott was  _right_. They might have limited information as to what the prophecy said, but they'd heard a portion of the prophecy at this point. And since they'd heard a portion of the prophecy...  
  
 _"If the lines we know are present in the prophecy are not present in Deceit's version of the prophecy, we will be able to ascertain his dishonesty,"_  Logan realized.  
  
 _"And what happens if they are present in his version of the prophecy?"_  Era frowned.  _"Does that mean we can just go ahead and trust everything that he says? Cause I don't think that's a wise course of action."_  
  
 _"That is because it is not a wise course of action,"_  Logan agreed.  
  
 _"Well, no one else was coming up with anything-"_  Elliott started to say in defense of themself.  
  
 _"I was not referring to the test itself with that statement, but rather the assertion that we should trust Deceit unquestioningly should he so happen to past said test,"_  Logan amended.  
  
 _"Oh. Well, that I can agree with,"_  Elliott shrugged.  
  
Virgil had to admit that Elliott's idea was the best idea that they had to go on. He didn't think it would solve everything - Logan and Era gave voice to the same doubts coursing through Virgil's own mind. Were Deceit to pass this test, it would not prove that they could trust him with  _everything_ , but it would be a step in the right direction. Deceit undoubtedly  _knew_ how important the prophecy was to Virgil, Logan, and their friends, and if he continued to keep it from them with that knowledge it would not reflect well on him.

Virgil and Logan walked back to Renilda's flat armed with this knowledge, but that would not make the task at hand any easier. Virgil had no problem confronting Deceit most of the time, but in this instance it meant the difference between possibly growing to trust Deceit more or finding out proof positive that Deceit was playing them for fools.  
  
And Virgil honestly wasn't sure which option bothered him more. On one hand, he wanted to believe Deceit. He wanted to think that Deceit was improving himself, that he saw the error of his ways and was trying to do right. On the other hand, Deceit changing his stripes (...or scales, as the case may be), was a change to the status quo, and Virgil didn't always do well with change.  
  
 _"I believe you should confront him on your own,"_  Logan confessed as they approached the flat.  
  
Virgil stared wide-eyed back at Logan. Logan wanted him to do this  _by himself_? Didn't he know how nervous Virgil already was?  
  
Logan sighed.  _"I know it will be difficult, but it has the most chance of success. Any time we have made progress with Deceit, he has approached you on a one on one basis."_  
  
This was, admittedly, true - whether Virgil wanted it to be or not.  
  
 _"It is therefore possible to conclude that Deceit feels more comfortable when he is solely in your presence,"_  Logan remarked.  
  
Virgil let out a snort. More comfortable because he  _knew_  he could bully Virgil. Or at least that was how it was in the past - no matter how hard Virgil tried to deny it, things  _had_  changed. It was whether these changes would remain permanent that was up for debate.  
  
Virgil took in a deep breath, then glanced to Logan and nodded. Logan nodded in return. Logan continued on to the room he shared with Virgil, stepping inside. Virgil, on the other hand, stood at Deceit's door. He was about to knock, but paused just before his hand touched the door.  
  
Did he hear voices within the room? Who could Deceit be talking to?  
  
Virgil retrieved his wand and pulled open the door at once. He nearly dropped his wand at what he saw on the other side.


	31. Chapter 31

_"Ah, Virgil, it is so nice to see you again,"_  his voice dripped with sarcasm, but it wasn't Deceit's voice that greeted him.  
  
It was his  _father's_.  
  
Virgil opened his mouth to speak before recalling that he  _couldn't_ , at least not in any way that would be intelligible.  
  
How was it possible? Logan  _killed_  Linus, Virgil saw it...  
  
...no, Virgil  _didn't_  see it. He had his eyes closed the whole time, fearing that his father's killing curse would strike him and bracing himself.  
  
Yet he'd seen Linus lying on the ground - was it possible that he wasn't dead, but rather under a spell that  _mimicked_  such a state? He hadn't made out the spell that Logan cast, so it was possible...  
  
Whatever was happening, he was unmistakably staring back into the grinning face of his father, and Virgil wasn't sure  _why_.  
  
Before he could ask, Linus turned to Deceit.  _"You've done wonderfully, my boy."_  
  
 _What?_  
  
Deceit had something to do with this? Virgil wasn't sure why  _shock_  flooded through him - he had, after all, tried to stay prepared for this possibility all along. Yet Deceit seemed so  _honest_  when he approached Virgil that...it was hard  _not_  to consider, or possibly even  _hope_ , that Deceit was being genuine.  
  
 _"I'm-I'm not quite certain what you mean, father-"_  Deceit replied, and Virgil let out a snort.  
  
 _"You do not need to keep up the act, Lionel,"_  Linus told him.  _"Your brother does not buy it at this point, and frankly neither do I. You've done a fine job deceiving them up to this point, but now it's time to tell them the truth."_  
  
The truth? Virgil narrowed his eyes, his gaze shifting from Linus to Deceit.

 _"I'm-I'm not quite sure what you're talking about, f-father, I was under the impression that you were...that you were..."_  Deceit trailed off.  
  
 _"Let the act drop, boy!"_  Linus chuckled.  
  
If Virgil could talk, he would implore Deceit to do the same. His grip tightened around his wand. He was utterly  _infuriated_. And to think, he'd actually considered giving Deceit a chance!  
  
 _"It's not an act!"_  Deceit hissed.  _"Virgil, do not listen to him, I'm not sure how he even got in here..."_  
  
Linus began to laugh.  _"My, you just can't help yourself can you? Even when there is no reason to lie, you insist on continuing. You know full well that you let me in."_  
  
 _"I most certainly did not!"_  Deceit protested.

 _"Virgil, how many times has Lionel actually been honest with you?"_  Linus snickered.  
  
Virgil wasn't sure what to say to that. He  _hated_  Linus more than anything or anyone else, and  _wanted_  to trust Deceit...but he could not help but focus on mental picture that his mind placed on repeat.  
  
 _Himself, giving Deceit the benefit of the doubt, only for Deceit to join his father as they laughed over what a fool Virgil was._  
  
Virgil was no fool. He raised his wand.  
  
 _"I'm not lying!"_  Deceit shouted, causing Virgil to jump. Linus sneered.  
  
 _"And why would anyone believe you? They have no reason to. You've toyed with them for years. You're proud of that,"_  Linus continued.  
  
 _"I'm not...I wasn't...I was,"_  Deceit's voice was quiet, subdued. Virgil could not recall a time where Deceit sounded  _less_  sure of himself, and Virgil wasn't sure what to make of it.  
  
 _Stop toying with me and give me the truth, dammit,_  Virgil hissed in his head.  
  
The voice within his mind sounded more like his father's than he would have liked, a realization that sent a shudder through Virgil.

 _"You are, and you owe your brother the truth after all of these years, do you not?"_  Linus smirked.  _"Go on, tell him what you're really like. Tell him how much you enjoyed it."_  
  
 _"I did enjoy it!"_  Deceit admitted in that same quiet tone.   
  
Virgil snarled. Of course he did, Virgil knew it all along...  
  
 _"I did enjoy it,"_  Deceit repeated.  _"But I don't anymore."_  
  
Virgil's jaw fell open in shock. His hand continued to clench his wand... _no, don't fall for it, he's manipulating you..._  
  
 _"I did enjoy it. I liked the feeling of power, of knowing that other people were under my control. I liked the attention it garnered me. I liked seeing those unlike me suffer. I liked know that I was better than so many others,"_  Deceit announced.  
  
 _Whatever helps you sleep at night after everything you've done, asshole,_  Virgil narrowed his eyes.  
  
 _"I liked lying to myself."_  
  
...wait, what?  
  
 _"You called me a liar, father? You were correct. I lied to Virgil. I lied to mum. I lied to Virgil's friends, I lied to the professors at Hogwarts, I lied to the Ministry, but most importantly I lied to myself,"_  Deceit let out a shaky sigh.  
  
 _"And just how did you do that?"_  Linus sneered.  
  
 _"I told myself that I was better than others,"_  Deceit replied.  
  
 _"How...that's..."_  Linus stammered, and Virgil furrowed his brow.

 _"They have no reason to believe anything that you're saying!"_ Linus seemed to recover, and started to chuckle.  
  
"Deceit! Tha-" Virgil started, then paused when he saw both figures looking at him with a puzzled expression. He recalled that he couldn't speak intelligibly, and in a situation like this he hardly had the time to  _write_  what he wanted to say.  
  
Desperate times called for desperate measures, and he needed to find a way to draw the attention to himself.   
  
Virgil slowly approached his father and brother with a purposeful stare directly ahead. He did not want to look at either of their faces, knowing that he might falter if he did so.  
  
Virgil was only a couple of feet away from Deceit. Deceit opened his mouth to speak, but closed it when he saw that Virgil was not stopping, but rather continuing past him. The moment Virgil took one step past his brother, Linus' figure began to shift.  
  
Virgil's eyes sought out Deceit's, and when the brothers made eye contact Virgil gave a nod in Deceit's direction. Deceit's eyes widened in recognition of the point that Virgil was trying to get across.  
  
This was not Linus.


	32. Chapter 32

Virgil braced himself, slowly raising his wand as the third figure shed its skin and donned a new outfit.  
  
Virgil and Deceit were no longer joined by Linus. Instead, they were in the presence of a perfect clone of Virgil.  
  
 _"What the..."_  Deceit reached for his wand as well at this point.  _"Who is this? Some sort of shapeshifter?"_  
  
Virgil knew exactly who - or rather  _what_  - stood in front of them, but knowing what he was facing was one thing. Actually  _facing_  it was another.   
  
 _"I ought to find that Mudblood and finish the job I started several months ago,"_  the 'other Virgil' announced, causing Virgil to wince.  _"Father and the Council will be so pleased when they find out."_  
  
Deceit stared at the other Virgil as if he had two heads. Virgil clenched his wand tighter, trying to cast the spell that he  _knew_ he needed to cast.

But it wasn't easy, not when the false Virgil's words brought with them a slew of bad memories.  
  
 _It's not real, it's not._  He tried telling himself, closing his eyes.  
  
 _"Isn't it, though?"_  His mind responded. It sounded almost as if the words were spoken out loud.  _"Did I really say anything that you haven't said yourself?"_  
  
Virgil's eyes flew open. That  _was_  spoken out loud. Virgil's doppelganger smirked back at him.  
  
 _"You hurt Patton, remember? You wanted to kill him, in fact. It was only because you chickened out at the last minute that he's still alive. But he still experiences pain from the Cruciatus Curse. He probably always will. You did that to him."_  
  
Virgil closed his eyes, trying to ignore what his doppelganger was telling him.  _Ri-_  he tried casting mentally, but was interrupted before he could finish.  
  
 _"You're imagining it now, aren't you? That pitiful Mudblood writing on the ground in pain-"_  He was. He wasn't before, but it was impossible  _not_  to picture in light of what he was hearing.  
  
"Shut up!" Virgil snarled. Deceit let out a yelp of surprise.   
  
 _"Shut up? I'm just telling you what you don't want to admit about yourself. You're just like your brother, so adept at lying to yourself that you don't even realize you're doing it..."_  the false Virgil continued.  
  
 _"Um, rude much?"_  Deceit huffed.  
  
"You're wrong!" Virgil shouted, ignoring Deceit's contribution to the conversation. He could hear commotion on the other side of the room, but paid it no heed, instead returning his focus to the false Virgil as it- _he_  - spoke to him.  
  
 _"You know I'm not wrong, and that's what scares you the most. You know it will only take one small slip up and you'll be back where you were before,"_  his doppleganger's voice, so similar to his own, taunted with an almost childlike amusement.  
  
...wait...  
  
His doppelganger was  _answering_  him.   
  
Virgil's eyes snapped open.   
  
His doppelganger was  _conversing_  with him, as though he understood everything that Virgil was saying. His speech was still cursed. They'd done nothing to cure it. Deceit's shout of surprise earlier came from the fact that he'd heard Virgil screaming  _gibberish_  at the doppleganger.  
  
Yet the false Virgil  _understood his speech_.  
  
Virgil's eyes narrowed, and he brandished his wand outward at once.  
  
He recalled where he was, and what (yes,  _what_ , not who, because this creature that he and his brother battled with was by no means human) he was facing. His hand clenched tighter around his wand. "I thought I told you to shut the hell up," Virgil growled.   
  
 _Riddikulus!_  Virgil incanted mentally. A stream of light hit Virgil's doppelganger, transforming said doppleganger into...well, still a doppleganger, but a doppleganger having a  _really_  bad hair day.

 _"A boggart? All of this time, it was a boggart?"_  Deceit gaped, though the corners of his mouth twitched upward as he got a closer look at the boggart under Virgil's Riddikulus spell.  
  
Virgil's doppleganger looked as though he'd stepped outside in the middle of a cyclone. His hair stood up every which way, and he wore an expression akin to a deer in headlights.  
  
Deceit began to laugh first. Virgil soon followed. The boggart began to shrink in on itself.  
  
Virgil heard banging on the other side of the door, jumping in surprise and sobering instantly. The door slammed open, and even though Virgil expected  _something_  like that to happen, he still gave a jolt of surprise when he heard the door slam against the wall.  
  
 _"Virgil, I heard your yells, but the door was locked, are you alright?"_  Logan made his way through the door. He immediately glared at Deceit.  _"What did you do to him?"_  
  
 _"Excuse me?"_  Deceit huffed.  _"Just who do you think you are, coming into my room and talking to me like that? Because I came in here to talk to Virgil, not the other way around."_  
  
Virgil wanted to shout at the two to shut up, to tell them that they needed to take care of the boggart before partaking in any infighting. He went to retrieve his wand from his pocket.   
  
As he did this, Logan moved closer to Virgil, eyeing his boyfriend. He wanted to explain everything that happened to Logan as soon as possible, but how could he do so when he had so much to explain?  
  
Logan opened his mouth to say something to Virgil, stopping directly next to him. He cast a glare in Deceit's direction before returning his attention to Virgil. He cleared his throat and opened his mouth to speak, only to close it a few seconds later. The Ravenclaw was no longer looking at Virgil, but rather staring just past him. His words died on his lips, his eyes widening as the color slowly drained from his face.  
  
Virgil wanted to offer Logan words of support, but how  _could_ he in his current condition? He could write, but would Logan even be able to concentrate well enough to read what Virgil wrote when his worst fear stood on the other side of Virgil?  
  
It was strange, though - Virgil still remembered seeing Logan's boggart in their firth year. Unlike in his fifth year, however, he did not hear the Headmistress viciously berating Logan for his (unrealistically) horrid test scores. Instead, he heard complete silence, and it put him on edge.  
  
 _"Father?"_  Deceit asked in a voice scarcely above a whisper.  
  
Virgil slowly turned where he stood. The sight that greeted him was not that of a disappointed Headmistress or even an angry professor, but rather the corpse of his father, floating in mid-air.


	33. Chapter 33

The silence permeated every corner of the room. No one dared to speak, or even  _move_ , as they gazed upon the sight that greeted them.  
  
Logan reacted first. He backed toward the door, his face a ghostly white.  _"No...no, I...no,"_  Virgil heard Logan whisper.  
  
Logan's worst fear had  _changed_. Where Virgil's merely evolved, using his experiences over the past two years as a weapon against him, Logan's shifted  _entirely_.   
  
 _"I don't...why is it...?"_  Deceit murmured in confusion. It was odd to see Deceit so out of his element, but Virgil supposed that could be said for  _everyone_  tonight.   
  
Virgil was less concerned with answering his brother's question than he was with helping Logan. "Its a boggart," he tried explaining to Logan.  
  
Logan flinched at that. Virgil's heart ached at the sight, but he also recognized that his attempts at verbal comfort would get him nowhere. So instead he reached for his pad once more and scribbled one word onto the paper, thrusting the pad into Logan's direct line of sight. He couldn't possibly miss it that way.

 _Boggart,_  the paper read.  
  
Virgil held his breath as he waited for Logan to comprehend what it was that he was reading. His eyes widened the slightest bit behind his glasses, but the realization that this was a boggart did not embolden him the way that it had for Virgil.

 _"I see,"_  Logan murmured quietly, refusing to take his eyes off of the boggart.  
  
 _It's not real,_  Virgil wrote in an attempt to comfort Logan, but as he glanced down at the words they felt empty. The boggart was simply showing an  _image_  of Linus' corpse, but the image depicted something that  _actually happened_. Informing Logan that what he was witnessing wasn't real wouldn't help, because he wasn't haunted by the image itself. He was haunted by what that image  _meant_.  
  
Virgil crushed the paper in his hand and let it fall to the ground.  
  
 _"I don't get it, why is this..."_  Deceit stared at Logan's boggart.  
  
A sick jolt coursed through Virgil when he recognized why.  
  
 _He wants to know why Linus' corpse is Logan's boggart. He doesn't know what Logan did,_  realized Virgil. He let out a shaky breath. They all had a  _lot_  to talk about after this, but this would be the line of conversation that Virgil would look forward to the least - explaining to his brother that his boyfriend was response for the death of their father. It was justified given the circumstances, but would Deceit accept that?  
  
Would  _Logan_? Virgil  _knew_  that Logan wasn't as calm as he portrayed directly after the incident, nor did he expect Logan to have recovered as quickly as he pretended to, but this was proof positive that not only did the incident continue to haunt Logan, but it weighed on him enough to  _manifest as his boggart_.  
  
As Virgil watched Logan and Deceit, he realized that neither were in any condition to banish the boggart.

Virgil wasn't in the best frame of mind to do it either, but he was undoubtedly doing better than Deceit and Logan, who seemed to forget that they were staring at a boggart in the  _first_  place. If Virgil could talk, he would urge Logan to banish the boggart, but he  _couldn't_ , and writing to Logan would take too much time, so he opted to point his wand at the boggart instead.  
  
The only question was...how did one make something like  _this_  funny enough to rouse laughter from his brother and his boyfriend? Hell, what could rouse laughter in  _himself_  at this point in time? The spell would have to be powerful enough to alter what they were viewing considerably.  
  
A bad hair day, like the one his Virgil's doppleganger sported, would not suffice.  
  
...wait. Virgil's  _doppleganger_. Virgil knew how to solve this!  
  
Virgil took in a deep breath and stepped forward, moving past Logan, assuring that  _he_  was the closest in proximity to his boggart.  
  
The boggart assumed the form of Virgil's doppleganger once more. And this time, the false Virgil looked as though Christmas had come early. He stood over Virgil, somehow seeming  _taller_  than Virgil despite their identical height. Perhaps it was the way the false Virgil stood with his shoulders squared back and Virgil himself hunched in on himself. The doppleganger bore a wicked grin, and opened his mouth to speak as he leered over Virgil...  
  
Virgil braced himself for what was to come.  _Remember, whatever he says isn't real, it isn't real,_  he told himself. Before the boggart could get so much as a word out,  _someone else_  took action - and not the person that Virgil would have expected at the start of this mess.  
  
 _"Riddikulus!"_  Deceit screamed. The doppleganger once more stood with his hair standing up at every which way, but he also wore a clown nose and huge shoes to add to the ensemble.  
  
Logan's mouth twitched upward. Deceit covered his mouth with his hand to cover his snickers. This caused Logan to let out a few titters of his own, and Virgil joined in. This was partially due to amusement at the other two's reactions, and partially out of  _relief_. He wasn't sure if the idea would work, but it seemed to have done the trick. By tricking the boggart into returning to its previous form, the boggart adopted a form that Logan and Deceit could fight back against more easily, taking the fight from one on one to two against one.  
  
The boggart looked confused, perhaps even scared itself. Virgil could not help but grin at this realization, and Logan smirked.  _"Now get out and stay out, you are no longer welcome here. Riddikulus!"_  Logan shouted, the spell hitting the boggart directly in the chest. The boggart disappeared at once.  
  
The three stared at the spot the boggart once stood/laid in.  
  
 _"Well that was fun, let's do that again some time"_  Deceit drawled.  
  
An uncomfortable silence hung heavy throughout the room. The three exchanged glances, none of them wanting to make the first move.


	34. Chapter 34

_This is gonna be a doozy,_  Virgil thought to himself as he glanced at his brother and his boyfriend, doing his darndest to reject the overwhelming urge to jump out of the nearest window and run away as fast as possible.  
  
 _"So, you're probably wondering why my Patronus was your, uh..."_  Logan trailed off, paling slightly.   
  
 _"I admit, I cannot fathom how his death would have impacted you in any way, much less to the point where he would appear as your boggart,"_  Deceit furrowed his brow.   
  
Logan didn't say or  _do_  much of anything. Virgil had to look closely to make certain that he was still  _breathing_.  
  
 _"You are still mum. That leads me to believe that whatever the reason is, you either a) Do not want me to know it, or b) Do not want to admit it. Oh, I suppose there's always c as well - all of the above,"_  Deceit continued.  
  
 _"I am not certain what you mean,"_  Logan responded stiffly.  
  
 _"For the longest time, I presumed Virgil was the one who cast the killing curse. Now I am beginning to expect that the night of Linus Thompson's death went differently than I suspected,"_ Deceit narrowed his eyes.  
  
Logan tried to maintain a stoic expression, but even he could not hide the way that he flinched under Deceit's accusatory gaze.  
  
 _"Had Virgil cast the killing curse, his boggart would have mentioned it during the little guilt trip that it sent him on,"_  Deceit noted.  
  
 _You're assuming a lot here,_  Virgil wrote.  
  
 _"Maybe I am,"_  Deceit shrugged.  _"But you know it would have, regardless of how you felt about the actual events as they transpired. Had you dealt the final blow, it would be_  eating  _at you. Your boggart preyed upon your guilt over the darkest actions that you have taken in your life. Had you actually cast the killing curse, it would have undoubtedly used this against you. Instead, it merely mentioned your use of the Cruciatus Curse against your best friend."_  
  
Virgil tensed as he found himself forced to recall, once more, how Patton suffered under  _his_  wand.  
  
 _"You, on the other hand,"_  Deceit turned his attention to Logan. Logan's eyes widened almost imperceptibly, though it was enough for Virgil to notice.  _"There is only one reason that your boggart would have taken the form of your boyfriend's deceased father, something that should not have concerned you in the least, and that is if_  you  _dealt the final blow."_  
  
Logan opened his mouth to say something, then let it close. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and squared his shoulders.  _"I could deny it, but it would be foolish to delay the inevitable."_  
  
 _"I knew it!"_  Deceit declared, pointing at Logan.   
  
"He had good reason to!" Virgil shouted. Deceit and Logan turned to him in puzzlement.  
  
 _"In English would be helpful,"_  Deceit said with an arched eyebrow.  
  
If looks could kill, Virgil would have rendered Deceit instantaneously deceased with the glare he sent his brother's way.  
  
Which would be a rather ironic way for Deceit to go, given the current subject of their conversation.  
  
 _I said he had good reason to,_  Virgil scribbled onto a paper and passed to Deceit, his eyes still narrowed.  
  
 _"Cool motive, still murder,"_  Deceit replied, crumpling up the paper that Virgil tossed him after reading it and letting it fall to the ground at his feet.  
  
Logan frowned at Deceit's statement.  _"I suppose that argument does hold water-"_  
  
 _No, it doesn't. Not in a court of law,_  Virgil wrote, crumpling up the sheet of paper and tossing it at Deceit's head. Deceit rolled his eyes as he bent down to retrieve the newest balled up piece of paper at his feet after it missed Deceit's head entirely and landed at his feet.  
  
 _"Real mature, Virgil, and lovely aim."_ Deceit cleared his throat and went to read the note. _"'No it doesn't, not in a court of law'...pray tell, Virgil, how dies it not hold water? One does not cast the Killing Curse by accident - it requires deliberation and intent."_  
  
Logan's eyes went wide.  _"Virgil is correct."_  
  
Deceit turned to Logan at once.  _"What, how?"_  he sneered.  _"Or are you so desperate to clear your conscience that you'll jump at anything at this point?"_  
  
 _"Oh, you'll be pleased to know that my actions that night will continue to haunt me,"_  Logan assured Deceit.  _"Though not for the reason you think. What happened to Linus that night was not murder, not in the eyes of the law."_  
  
 _"How do you figure? Again, the Killing Curse requires deliberation and intent to cast - it is not something that one's wand can merely discharge 'on accident',"_  Deceit replied.  
  
 _"Self-defense,"_  Logan stated simply.  _"Well, perhaps not explicitly self-defense in this scenario, but had I not acted, Virgil would not be standing with us."_  
  
 _"...excuse me?"_  Deceit asked.  
  
 _"Do not pretend to misunderstand me - You and I both know that you heard me perfectly fine. Linus Thompson had his wand pointed at Virgil and was about to cast the Killing Curse at point blank range. Had I not acted, I can state with certainty that the spell would have struck Virgil. Were this a case tried under the Ministry, the Wizengamot would undoubtedly recognize this and realize that I acted with the intent to protect Virgil. Ergo, this was not murder under the eyes of a court of law,"_  Logan testified.  
  
Deceit turned to Virgil.  _"Is this true?"_  
  
Virgil nodded, though he pointed to his pad, indicating that he had more to say.  _I didn't actually witness Logan casting the curse, but I saw Linus point his wand in my direction and start the incantation for the Killing Curse._  
  
Deceit let out a sigh, squeezing the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index fingers.  _"So you acted to defend Virgil. Is that correct, Logan?"_  
  
Logan nodded.  _"That is an accurate summary of the events as they occurred, yes."_  
  
 _"...then why on Earth is he your boggart?"_  Deceit shook his head.  
  
 _"...I'm afraid I do not understand your question,"_  Logan furrowed his brow in confusion.  
  
 _"What are you so afraid of, when you had a sound reason for your actions?"_


	35. Chapter 35

That wasn't the question Virgil expected to hear, and it appeared Logan felt similarly if the quizzical expression he bore was any indication.  
  
 _"What are you so afraid of, if your actions are justified?"_  Deceit repeated, arching an eyebrow  
  
 _"As I told you, if I had not acted, Virgil would have been-"_  Logan began, but Deceit cut him off.  
  
 _"You mistake the point of my question. I am not asking you to justify your actions to me. You have done a fine job of that already."_  
  
 _"Then please clarify what it is that you are asking of me,"_  Logan demanded.  
  
 _"Me? I'm not asking anything of you,"_  Deceit said with an expression of mock innocence.  
  
Logan hissed something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like 'bullshit', and Virgil snickered.  
  
 _"What? It's true!"_  Deceit proclaimed.  
  
Virgil let out another snort at that. A man going by the name of  _Deceit_  professing something to be true? It might  _actually_  be true for all Virgil knew, but the amusement factor was not lost on Virgil.  
  
 _"I am not asking you to justify your actions to me or to anyone else at this point. That is all beside the point. You acted to protect Virgil. I am asking why you are afraid,"_  Deceit continued.  
  
 _"I am afraid that I do not understand what you are asking of me,"_  Logan frowned in clear confusion.  
  
 _"The boggart took the form that it did for a reason. You are afraid, but of what?"_  Deceit wondered.  
  
 _"I..."_  Logan started, then closed his mouth and shook his head.  
  
 _"If you cannot answer that question, perhaps you ought to be asking that question to yourself,"_ Deceit observed with a self-satisfied smirk.   
  
Logan did not have anything to say in response to that.  
  
Deceit shrugged and made his way toward the door, pulling it open. Virgil let out an involuntary hiss when the bright light from the hallway filtered into the previously darkened room.  
  
 _"What are you, a vampire?"_  Deceit snorted as he stepped into the hallway.  
  
Virgil rolled his eyes but headed for the door as well. He motioned for Logan to follow. Logan took a few steps forward, cast one last glance at the spot where the boggart vanished, then followed the brothers out into the hall as well. He closed the door behind them with purpose, as if he were glad to place what they'd gone through behind them. He even closed his eyes and let out a sigh of relief before letting go of the door handle.  
  
Deceit continued on down the hall toward the living room, but Virgil glanced back at Logan. Logan met Virgil's eyes, opened his mouth to speak...then closed his mouth immediately, casting his gaze downward.  
  
 _If this is fine, I'd hate to see what 'not fine' is,_  Virgil wrote, then showed to Logan.   
  
Logan shrugged.  _"I...feel that I should perhaps discuss this with someone,"_  he admitted.  
  
Virgil smiled.  _I'm all ears, Lo,_  he jotted out in reply.  
  
Logan shook his head immediately, and Virgil's smile fell. He hadn't intended for Logan to clam up entirely.   
  
 _"Let me amend that. It is not that I do not trust you, Virgil, nor do I intend to let my prior statement go without action. I just...do not feel that I should burden you with said information,"_ Logan remarked.  
  
 _We're boyfriends, L, it wouldn't be a burden!_  Virgil insisted, though there was only so much 'insisting' that he could do when his only modes of conversation available to him were written and nonverbal.  
  
 _"That is not what I...ah,"_  Logan squeezed at the bridge of his nose. Virgil stepped forward in concern, pausing only when Logan glanced up at him once more.  _"I do believe that I should discuss these matters with you eventually, and I intend to. But there is one person whose advice I believe I ought to seek out before I take that step."_  
  
"Hmmm?" Virgil asked, taking advantage of one of those rare moments where he could vocalize  _something_  that would make sense to the others.  
  
Logan seemed to recognize this and smiled at Virgil before continuing with his statement.  _"Do you...do you believe that Professor Picani would be willing to confer with me in a one on one basis?"_  
  
Virgil's eyes slowly widened as it occurred to him what Logan was asking. This was no small feat - he knew that it wasn't always easy for Logan to discuss his emotions, and the fact that he was admitting that he might need help with a  _professional_  where this matter was concerned was a huge step. The corners of Virgil's mouth gently turned upward, and he offered Logan a slow nod.  
  
 _"Good,"_  Logan declared.  _"I will speak with him concerning the matter the next time he is over."_  
  
Virgil gave another nod and the two continued toward the living room. There was a sharp knock at the door just as they were walking into the living room, and Virgil, Logan, and Deceit exchanged glances. Deceit very nearly went for the door, as he was the closest in proximity, but then stopped himself. He was not disguised, meaning that in the event that the person in the door was  _not_ someone familiar to them...Deceit was still a fugitive.  
  
Virgil hung back, knowing that in the event that the person at the door was not someone that they knew, his speech impediment would generate additional difficulties - not to mention he did not particularly  _enjoy_  conversing with strangers unless he had to anyway.  
  
That left Logan, who let out a sigh and made his way to the door, pulling it open.  
  
On the other side stood Renilda and Professor Picani.  
  
The three young men let out a collective sigh of relief.  
  
Professor Picani let out a chuckle as he and Renilda stepped into the room.  _"You three look like you've seen a ghost, and not the friendly kind like Casper!"_  he noted as Renilda closed the door behind them.  
  
Virgil snorted as he, Logan, and Deceit exchanged knowing glances once more.  _"If only you knew how true that statement was,"_  Logan admitted.


	36. Chapter 36

_"A boggart in my flat. A boggart in_  my  _flat. And I spoke to the landlord about his methods of pest control,"_  Renilda shook her head.  
  
As soon as Virgil, Logan, and Deceit explained what happened in Deceit's room, Renilda insisted upon going into Deceit's room.  
  
 _"I want to make sure it's gone for good,"_  she asserted.  
  
Deceit led Renilda into his room, Renilda following close behind. Virgil was third, though he lingered back for a few seconds when he looked behind himself and saw Professor Picani pause. Logan was tapping him on the shoulder, and motioning for him to step aside.  
  
It dawned on Virgil what Logan was doing just as Logan made eye contact with him. Virgil smiled and gave a half wave, then continued on to his brother's room.  
  
 _"Was tonight the first time you ever saw the boggart?"_  Renilda wondered.  
  
Virgil nodded. Deceit provided his answer verbally.  _"I've never seen it before in my life."_  He rattled the answer off fast... _too_ fast where Virgil was concerned, and judging from the way Renilda arched her eyebrow at her eldest son, she felt similarly.  
  
 _"Did you now? So the odd whispers I heard in here the other night weren't from the boggart at all, then?"_  Renilda folded her arms across her chest.  
  
The side of Deceit's face that was not covered in scales paled - as good as a confession, even if Deceit's words said the opposite.  _"No, they were not."_  
  
Virgil's eyes widened as he realized the noise that  _he'd_  heard recently from the room could be attributed to the boggart as well.  
  
Renilda glanced back at Virgil, frowning when she realized that Logan and Professor Picani weren't with them.  _"Where did Logan and Emile go?"_  
  
 _I think they were discussing boggarts and where they originally came from last I checked,_  Virgil quickly scribbled out, hoping that his mother wouldn't ask any more questions. He knew what they were  _really_  talking about, but he didn't think  _Logan_ would want Renilda to know. Logan only just came around to admitting how much the events depicted were bothering him to himself and to Virgil, after all. He knew it would take time before Logan was ready to discuss it around anyone else - Deceit notwithstanding, and that was only because Deceit happened to  _be there_  at the time.  
  
To his credit, Deceit stayed mum as well. When Renilda looked away for a moment to inspect the cupboard the boggart apparently originated from, Virgil mouthed a 'thanks' to Deceit, who just shrugged and mouthed 'whatever'.  
  
 _"Oh good...I love to see the two of them getting along! I hope the two of you are getting along well enough with Emile as well!"_ Renilda smiled.  
  
 _"Why? The two of you aren't engaged, are you?"_  Deceit arched a brow.  
  
Virgil's eyes went wide. He hadn't even  _considered_  it, but it certainly was a possibility, and it would explain why his mother was asking, and  _oh Merlin his mother was engaged and he hadn't even realized it_...  
  
Renilda's laughter pulled Virgil from his thoughts, and glancing back at his mother he saw that she was smiling as well.  _"Merlin, no!"_  
  
...well now he felt stupid. His mother didn't even  _want_  to marry Professor Picani?  
  
 _"That's not to say that I'd never consider it,"_  Renilda began, unintentionally clarifying  _that_  bit up for her youngest son.  _"I just don't think that we're ready yet. He's still recovering from a breakup with his last boyfriend, and...you can understand where I'd be a little hesitant to make that leap again, after what happened the first time around. I don't foresee matters with Emile taking that sort of turn, but...no, I don't believe we're ready just yet."_  
  
Deceit let out a noticeable sigh of relief. Virgil couldn't blame him - Virgil honestly found that he wouldn't  _mind_  welcoming Professor Picani into the family, but it would take a long while to get used to. Deceit had even more adjustments to make, however, after everything he'd been through as of late, and...well, Deceit already had matters of his own to sort through before he could even fathom taking in the idea that his mother might get married.  
  
 _"That said, if we do choose to pursue marriage, the two of you will be the first to know,"_  she smiled.  
  
Virgil grinned, grateful that his mother was taking their thoughts into consideration.  
  
Deceit, on the other hand, looked almost awestruck.  _"Really? You...will actually factor us into...?"_  
  
Virgil felt a jolt as he suddenly realized why Deceit was reacting in the way that he was. Deceit wasn't  _used_  to a parental figure actually factoring their child into their decision-making. Growing up, Deceit was always closer to Linus, and Linus had a very specific idea of how he wanted things done. Virgil recalled how displeased Linus was about his unplanned (and unsupervised) foray into Knockturn Alley when he was still under Linus' enchantments. He figured it was a one-off thing, and the result of Linus' fears that his deception would be discovered (as it indeed was), but...was it truly? Or was there more to it?  
  
 _"Of course I will. This will impact the two of you just as much as it will impact us,"_  Renilda assured him.  
  
Deceit said nothing in return, apparently needing time to mull over the conversation.   
  
Renilda cast one final glance at the boggart-less cupboard. She pointed her wand at it.  _"Riddikulus!"_  she cast.  
  
Nothing happened.  
  
 _"Well it looks like the three of you did a fine job vanquishing it at any rate,"_  Renilda nodded, reaching out and closing the cupboard. She began to stride back toward the door, pausing only when she saw that Virgil and Deceit lingered where they were. She motioned for them to follow her, and they did so, walking side by side.  
  
 _"Is she always this...this upfront? This...accepting?"_  Deceit asked in a voice barely loud enough for Virgil to hear, cautiously.  
  
Virgil nodded. He pulled his pad from his pocket and quickly jotted out his reply.  _Welcome to the family. Just don't screw it up._  He arched an eyebrow upward.  _Think you can manage that?_  
  
A remorseful look shot across Deceit's face at once, soon followed by a determined gaze and a firm nod. Virgil flashed his brother a half-smile in return as the two continued on their way.


	37. Chapter 37

_"Jeez, talk about a boggart magnet. What is this, your third time facing one?"_  Roman asked Virgil the next time the group met up.  
  
 _"Okay, but to be fair the first one he faced was the same one we all faced in class,"_  Era pointed out.  
  
 _"Hey, speak for yourself. Some of us weren't invited to that class,"_  Astrit reminded her.  
  
 _"And some of us could attend but didn't,"_  Chelsea acknowledged.  
  
 _"You didn't go to that class either? Glad I'm not the only one,"_ Elliott shrugged.   
  
 _"To be fair, none of us knew what that class was going to be until we showed up,"_  Roman admitted.  
  
 _"Yeah, otherwise some of might have stayed back. Huge spiders..."_  Patton shuddered.  
  
Virgil gave him a pat on his shoulder and what he hoped was a comforting smile. Patton returned the smile, so Virgil could only assume he'd done something right.  
  
 _"But my point still stands. You, Virgil Thompson, are a boggart magnet,"_  Roman announced.  
  
 _I'm not even the one who first encountered this boggart,_  Virgil wrote as a retort.  
  
 _"I mean he does have a point. If anyone was the magnet this time around it was Deceit,"_  Elliott considered.  
  
 _"How is he doing anyway?"_  Astrit frowned.  _"It didn't sound like he had a very fun time of it."_  
  
 _"Is any time spent with a boggart considered 'fun time'?"_ Chelsea said with a snort.  
  
 _"If you're not the one facing it maybe,"_  Elliott reasoned.  
  
 _"Deceit is handling it as well as can be expected, considering the circumstance,"_  Logan explained.  
  
 _"He really saw Linus himself? What did he even say? 'You're a disappointment'? Its not like Virgil didn't hear that for years,"_ Chelsea rolled her eyes.  
  
Chelsea had a point - were that the line of torment the false Linus opted to take. The same criticism could not be applied to the bogart's  _actual_  words, however - though Virgil did not feel that it was his place to share what the boggart did say.

 _"As difficult as I find it to interact on a cordial basis with Deceit, I do not feel comfortable betraying his trust. I therefore cannot say what the boggart said to him,"_  Logan remarked.  
  
Virgil nodded, moving his fingers across his lips as he mimed zipping them closed.  
  
 _"What good is zipping your lips going to do? You do most of your communication communication through gestures and writing, not speech,"_  Roman pointed out.  
  
Virgil hissed.  
  
 _"Oh, and hissing of course. How could I forget hissing?"_  Roman grinned.  
  
 _"Roman,"_  Patton warned, though a smile played across his features.  
  
Even Virgil could not help but smile a little, recognizing that Roman was merely trying to lighten the situation. He wasn't being outwardly malicious.  
  
 _"I'm guessing Linus didn't call him a disappointment though, judging by your reactions,"_  Elliott eyed them knowingly.  
  
Virgil shook his head, as did Logan. Virgil had a feeling he knew why Elliott was asking - he'd never seen Elliott's boggart, but he suspected their boggart would probably be of their father as well, saying such things to them.   
  
He knew that his friends were curious, and he would be too, but Logan summed it up perfectly - it was not their place to share what Deceit saw with the others. Virgil would hate if someone shared information about  _his_  boggart, his  _worst fears_ portrayed in front of him and given life. If he told his friends about what Deceit saw, Deceit would have been right about him all along, that he  _wasn't_  someone that Deceit could trust.

 _"I take it you never found out what the other part of the prophecy said, then?"_  Era commented with a wry grin.  
  
 _"Sadly, we did not. We were a tad preoccupied at the time,"_ Logan admitted.  
  
 _I think it already came true,_  Virgil wrote.  
  
Patton blinked in surprise.  _"You do? When?"_  
  
 _When we faced the boggart,_  Virgil replied.  
  
Logan removed a gray notebook from his messenger bag, flipping through it.  _"Aha, here we are. We were unable to discern the first couple of lines in the prophecy, though we did successfully make out 'The specter, though ethereal, may be more dangerous than it appears.' Specter is indeed a word that could be used to describe a boggart, thus Virgil's assessment may be correct."_  Logan snapped the notebook closed.  
  
 _"We can only hope,"_  Astrit noted.  
  
 _"Didn't you also hear 'fear', 'succumb', and 'unlikely'?"_  Era asked. Virgil glanced over to see that Era was looking at a sheet of her own.  
  
 _"I didn't know we had two Logans here,"_  Roman jested.  
  
 _"Hey, when you're a Seer you learn to take notes,"_  Era replied, folding up the sheet and placing it back in her own bag.  
  
Virgil took notes as well, of course, but it was usually easier to just let Logan do the talking; after all, he was actually able to  _talk_  and have people  _understand_  him.

 _"At any rate, I think we should probably get ready to part for the night. It's getting late,"_  Chelsea mentioned.  
  
Elliott glanced at their watch.  _"Jeez, it's that late already? Yeah, I gotta head out. Catch you guys later."_  
  
 _"Wait, Elliott, before you go - We're starting up school again soon,"_  Roman mentioned.  
  
 _"Uh, yeah, I know. Why do you bring it up?"_  Elliott tilted their head slightly.  
  
 _"I was thinking we close out the summer the same way that we brought it in,"_  Roman said with a grin.  
  
 _"You mean going to the wizarding planetarium?"_  Patton's eyes lit up.  _"That sounds like so much fun!"_  
  
Virgil had to agree, so long as he wasn't put on the spot again.  
  
Though Virgil suspected that Roman had something else in mind for their trip to the planetarium, judging from the way he beamed at Patton's reaction to the suggestion.  
  
 _"Should I invite Paige too?"_  Era asked.  
  
 _"Why not? Invite everyone! This will probably be our last get together for a while, so we might as well make the best of it!"_ Roman called out.  
  
Virgil could not help but grin as he looked on. Their next trip to the planetarium would be one to remember, he was certain of that.


	38. Chapter 38

Operation 'Get Everyone Together For One Last Summer Hurrah' was a go.  
  
Era was able to contact Paige, and Elliott was able to get ahold of Shane. Roman looked over the moon when he learned that everyone was coming, and Virgil knew why.  
  
Roman planned to propose to Patton at the planetarium. Virgil considered it a bit amusing, as he'd briefly considered proposing to  _Logan_  at the planetarium until he realized that a) He wasn't ready to take that step, and b) When and if that time came, he'd want to propose to Logan in a quieter, more subdued place - not a public attraction, in other words.  
  
But for Patton and Roman it fit perfectly.  
  
Once again, Logan was enthralled with the various attractions at the planetarium, and Virgil enjoyed  _Logan's_  enthusiasm as much as he enjoyed the attractions themselves.  
  
Elliott and Shane were taking pictures by the giant orrery. Virgil and Logan were about to go into the gift shop when he felt a tap at his shoulder. He jolted and spun around at once.  
  
Roman stood behind them. He glanced at Logan first.  _"Logan, would you mind talking with Patton for a bit? I'd like to talk to Virgil."_  
  
Logan blinked in confusion, looking from Roman to Virgil and then back again.  _"I suppose. What is Patton's current location?"_  
  
 _"He's already in the gift shop. Pretty please Logan? I'll owe you one!"_  Roman pleaded.  
  
 _"A fair deal,"_  Logan extended his hand. Roman quickly shook it, and Logan set off into the gift shop. Roman grabbed Virgil by the arm and pulled him off to a corner.

 _"What if I mess this up?"_  Roman groaned.  
  
 _You brought me all the way over here to tell me that?_  Virgil jotted out in reply.  
  
Roman shook his head.  _"I'm so nervous I can't stop shaking. How do you deal with this all the time?"_  
  
Virgil let out a snort.  _Give me a little more credit than that, Princey. Even I'm not in a panic 24/7."_  
  
 _"Can you just help me? Please?"_  Roman begged.  _"I want this to go perfect and it won't be perfect if I freak out."_  
  
Virgil blinked in surprise. Roman really  _was_  nervous, wasn't he?  
  
 _"Breathe in for four seconds, hold your breathe for seven seconds, and breathe out for eight seconds. Do that several times,_  Virgil explained.  
  
Roman eyed him skeptically, but closed his eyes and did just that. It quickly became clear to Virgil that Roman was either counting  _way_  too fast or had entirely disregarded the count, because he was near to hyperventilating.  
  
Virgil tapped him hard on the shoulder to get his attention. Roman jolted, his eyes snapping open in surprise.   
  
Virgil breathed in for four seconds, gradually holding up one additional finger as each second elapsed. He of all people knew how hard it could be to track time while in the midst of a panic, and thus would take advantage of his own comparatively calmer state to lead Roman through the exercise, much as Logan and Professor Picani had with him in the past.  
  
He repeated the same motions as he held his breathe, then as he exhaled. Roman, though confused at first, was quick to catch on. Soon the two were breathing in synchronization - In for four seconds, hold for seven seconds, out for eight seconds.  
  
Virgil lost count, but was fairly certain that they had to have gone through at least fifteen repetitions before Roman finally broke their silence.  
  
 _"Wow, that really does help,"_  Roman mumbled.  
  
Virgil shrugged.  _It gives you something to ground yourself with. It's not foolproof, but it's something._  
  
Virgil wouldn't pretend that the breathing techniques worked every time. They weren't a cure, merely a tool to help him.  
  
Roman's case of the jitters had a more concrete cause than Virgil's anxiety, however, which meant that Roman's panic was ultimately easier to address overall - This proposal was  _incredibly_  important to him, a once in a lifetime event, and he was terrified that something would go wrong.  
  
 _Patton will love it no matter how it goes,_  Virgil assured him, wishing that he could do so  _verbally_ , but utilizing the resources that he had available to him in lieu of his voice. It was perhaps not as comforting for Roman, but it'd have to do.

 _"I...I'm sure he will,"_  Roman admitted.  _"But I don't just want him to like it. I want it to be extra special. He deserves that."_  
  
 _Trust me, if I know you it'll be extra special. Anything you do is extra,_  Virgil wrote with a smirk.  
  
Roman huffed.  _"Rude."_  
  
 _Made you feel better though didn't it?_  he grinned.  
  
 _"...yes,"_  Roman admitted begrudgingly. Virgil snickered.

 _"No need to rub it in,"_  Roman rolled his eyes.  _"...but seriously, thanks for your help."_  
  
Virgil shrugged.  _Logan taught me most of those tricks, him and Professor Picani,_  he explained.  
  
 _"Well I would certainly expect Logan and Professor Picani to know what they're talking about,"_  Roman replied.  
  
 _Oh, so you didn't trust it before you knew it came from them?_ Virgil retorted, one corner of his mouth quirking upward. He then continued writing his statement.  _I see how it is._  
  
Roman let out another huff.  _"Oh come on, you know what I meant."_  
  
Virgil chuckled.   
  
Roman glanced down at his watch, then took a deep breath.  _"I think I'm ready. The show is at 7pm, right?"_  
  
Virgil quickly glanced at the ticket in his hand and nodded.  
  
 _"That gives me another hour...I need to go talk to someone. If Patton asks where I am...I dunno, make something up,"_  Roman blurted out, hastily headed back out into the main lobby of the building. Virgil followed after, though he made a beeline for the gift shop once he was halfway across the room rather than continuing across it like Roman did.  
  
Roman glanced back at him one more time. He still looked a little unsure of himself. Virgil flashed him a thumbs up. Roman smiled, then turned to continue on his way.  
  
Virgil stood by what he said - He knew Patton would love it, no matter  _what_  it entailed.


	39. Chapter 39

_"They are going to do a different show this time, aren't they?"_ Shane wondered out loud once they were seated for the main show.  
  
 _"Of course not,"_  Chelsea answered.  _"They'd lose business fast doing that."_  
  
Roman just smiled. Virgil knew why - even if the show itself was exactly the same as it was before, it would still be a night to remember for other reasons.  
  
 _"Hello and welcome to The Stella Stockett Wizarding Planetarium! We have a wonderful show planned for you today! We will be going over some of the constellations in the night sky, and the myths and stories behind them! First I will direct your attention to this area, commonly referred to as the Big Dipper. The Big Dipper is not a constellation in itself but rather an asterism. The stars that make up the Big Dipper are, in fact, a part of a larger group of stars that make up the constellation Ursa Major. Ursa Major is Latin for 'Great Bear', and indeed many cultures and civilizations dating back to prehistory have recognized this distinct pattern of stars in the sky as a bear,"_  the announcer explained.  
  
Virgil actually found what the announcer was saying fascinating, though not so much as Logan, who appeared to be hanging on to every word.

Virgil felt a grin creeping across his face at the sight.  
  
This continued for some time. The announcer went on to explain about Ursa Minor and the Little Dipper. He went through several other constellations and not only showed the stars that comprised them, but also provided some detail as to the mythologies and histories behind them. Virgil knew many of the constellations from Astronomy, but much of the information concerning the mythologies was brand new to him.  
  
Just after explaining the Centarus constellation, the announcer drew their attention to another area of the sky.  _"We are proud to announce that we have discovered a brand new constellation here at the Stella Stockett Wizard Planetarium!"_  A chorus of gasps spread through the room.  
  
 _"We present to you the constellation Patton!"_  the announcer declared.   
  
Various voices swept through the room.   
  
 _"There is no constellation by the name of Patton in recorded history,"_  Logan protested.  
  
 _"That would by why they said they discovered it here, duh,"_  Elliott said with a grin, eyeing Roman.   
  
 _"There's a constellation named after me?"_  Patton whispered, smiling wide.  
  
 _"Of course there is, my love. Look,"_  Roman pointed up, just as the announcer finished outlining the 'constellation', unmistakably modeled off of Patton himself.  
  
Patton's hand flew over his mouth as he let out a gasp.  _"What..."_  
  
 _"We are told by the young man who discovered this constellation, Roman Prince, that the letters spelling out the name of this constellation describe it well. Perfect, Amazing, Terrific, Talented, Outstanding, and Nice!"_  the announcer continued.  
  
 _"I don't...Roman?"_  Patton turned to Roman in confusion. Roman, in the meantime, was rising to his feet.  
  
 _"I believe its discoverer, Roman, has a few words to say right now, in fact,"_  the announcer explained. A spotlight shone on Roman at once, and Roman cleared his throat.  
  
 _"Perfect, Amazing, Terrific, Talented, Outstanding, and Nice. Those are, indeed, the words I would use to describe the constellation Patton,"_  Roman began.  
  
 _"Oh!"_  Logan gasped under his breath just loud enough for Virgil to hear, presumably as it occurred to him what was happening. Virgil laughed and gave his boyfriend's hand a squeeze.  
  
 _"I..."_  Patton blurted out, clearly at a loss for words.  
  
 _"As you may have guessed, this constellation is not actually within the night sky. It is for the best that way - I don't know if I could withstand sharing the beauty of this constellation with the entire world,"_  Roman continued.  
  
The room was silent at this point, save for Roman and Patton. All eyes were on Roman as he continued to speak.  _"In fact...words can hardly describe the beauty I see when I look at this constellation. Not only is said constellation beautiful in a traditionally aesthetic way, but beautiful on the inside as well. Patton, you truly make the world brighter just by being in it."_  
  
He dropped to one knee. A few gasps echoed through the room, and Patton's eyes began to well up. Roman retrieved a small box from his pocket.  
  
 _"I hope you will do the honor of making me the happiest man on Earth. Patton, will you accept me as your husband?"_  He opened the box, exposing a ring with two small diamonds.

Patton's hand flew over his mouth once more as a few tears slipped down his cheeks. A sob tore its way from his throat.  
  
Roman gazed up at him nervously.  _"Patton, are you..."_  He was cut off by Patton throwing his arms around him and squeezing as tightly as he could.

 _"Yes yes yes yes yes!"_  Patton responded at last.   
  
Roman let out a snicker.  _"I was supposed to put this ring on your finger and then we were to hug, but...I suppose we could switch things up a bit. Do let me see your finger though."_  
  
Patton let out a watery chuckle of his own and held out his hand. Roman removed the ring from the box and slid it onto Patton's finger. The two then kissed to seal the deal.  
  
Scattered cheers and applause sounded throughout the planetarium, but no one clapped louder than their group of friends.  
  
Logan leaned in to whisper in Virgil's ear so that the latter would be able to hear him over the noise.  _"This is why Roman wanted to talk to you and why he wanted me to distract Patton earlier, isn't it?"_  
  
Virgil laughed and nodded in reply. He didn't know the full details of what was going to happen, but he did know that Roman was planning something - and he knew Roman well enough to know that it was going to be something big. Even he didn't expect something as grand as this, though. Roman really outdid himself this time, and that was saying something.  
  
And this was just the beginning.


	40. Chapter 40

Now that Roman and Patton were officially engaged, they wasted no time in setting to work on planning the wedding.  
  
_"You guys don't plan on getting married immediately, do you?"_ Era asked them a few days later.  
  
_"Of course not!"_  Patton responded.  
  
_"Then why are you in such a hurry to plan everything?"_  Astrit inquired.  
  
Roman chuckled.  _"Because these things take time. Venues can be rented months, sometimes even years out. Not to mention it will be hard to focus as much on the planning when we go back to school."_  
  
_"You have a date yet?"_  Shane wondered.  
  
_"Not an exact date,"_  Patton admitted.  _"But we're definitely thinking next summer if we can!"_  
  
_"Oh good, you plan to complete your studies first. I did wonder,"_ Logan remarked.  
  
_"So when are you and Virgil tying the knot? You've been dating almost as long as we have!"_  Roman asked.  
  
Virgil could practically  _feel_  the color draining from his face. Had he screwed up in not asking Logan? Should he have done so?  
  
Logan shrugged.  _"I think Virgil and I both agree that it is best for us to wait until we are through with our studies at Hogwarts."_  
  
Virgil let out a sigh of relief. Logan felt the same way he did.  
  
_"Yeah but you can get engaged and still go back to school. Just don't have the wedding until next summer, like us,"_  Roman suggested.  
  
_"You and Patton are already wedding one another next summer,"_ Logan pointed out.

 _"And?"_  Roman motioned for Logan to continue.  
  
Chelsea let out a snort.  _"So next summer is your special time. Let Virgil and Logan have theirs."_  
  
_"Are you and Era considering marriage?"_  Paige asked curiously.  
  
_"Definitely not against it, but I'm pretty sure neither of us are ready for it yet. Not like Patton and Roman,"_  Era explained.  
  
Era summed it up much better than Virgil could, though he agreed with the sentiment overall. He was not against Patton and Roman's engagement - the two both appeared to be on board and ready for it. That said, neither Virgil and Logan nor Chelsea and Era were at that point. That did not mean that they did not care for one another, just that they weren't ready to seriously consider marriage yet.  
  
And hearing someone else so readily admit it made Virgil more at ease with his own decision.  
  
Perhaps he and Logan would  _never_  get married. Perhaps they would. The same could be said for Chelsea and Era. That did not negate the strength of either relationship.

As the discussion continued, Patton stood and motioned to Virgil to come into the hall. Virgil rose to his feet with a puzzled expression, wondering why Patton wanted to talk to him on his own.  
  
Had he said or done something wrong?  
  
_"You're okay kiddo,"_  Patton told him.  _"I'm not mad or upset with you or anything. I just didn't wanna put you on the spot out there."_  
  
Virgil grew even more curious, though Patton's words did soothe him somewhat. Patton wasn't upset with him, which was certainly a good sign - but he still wanted to talk to him alone and 'not put him on the spot', and what did that mean?  
  
_"I don't want you to feel pressured into doing this, so if you'd be uncomfortable it's fine. I won't be upset. Just wanna tell you that ahead of time,"_  Patton continued.  
  
The longer Patton put off telling him, the more anxious Virgil grew, but it didn't feel right  _telling_  Patton that.  
  
_"You okay Virge?"_  Patton frowned.  
  
_Just tell me whatever it is. Putting it off is making me worry,_ Virgil admitted. He was already starting to feel a bit fuzzy.  
  
_"Oh goodness, I'm sorry, I thought I was making it easier on you!"_ Patton blurted out at once.  _"I wanted to ask you if you wanted to be my best man!"_  
  
Virgil's eyes went wide. Best man?

 _"Again, you don't have to if you don't want to,"_  Patton told me.  
  
Oh, Virgil wanted to. Virgil was ecstatic...for about fifteen seconds. Then the doubts began to creep in. How many people did Patton ask before Virgil? Was Patton only asking out of courtesy? Did Patton really want him to say no? Even if Patton truly  _did_  want Virgil to be his best man, was it the right decision?  
  
_Logan would probably make for a good best man,_  Virgil wrote after a moment or so of deliberation.  
  
He didn't expect Patton to look  _hurt_. Ugh, he wasn't trying to  _hurt_  Patton, what did he do wrong?  
  
_"He probably would,"_  Patton agreed.  _"And if you truly don't want to, maybe I'll ask him. But before I do...are you saying this because you're doubting yourself, or because you actually don't want to?"_  
  
Virgil blinked in surprise. The answer was the former, of course, but he didn't expect Patton to be so blunt about it.  
  
_"I thought so,"_  Patton frowned.  _"Virge, I really do want you to be my best man. Logan is wonderful, but you've been my best friend for years and I've known you longer than I've known him. I know you're doubting yourself, but I have faith that you'll be the bestest best man to ever best man!"_  he declared.  
  
Virgil could not hold back the snicker that tore from his lips as this. Judging from the way Patton was grinning, he was doing it on purpose too.   
  
_"So what do you say?"_  Patton tilted his head slightly to the left.  
  
Once he regained his composure somewhat, Virgil responded with a nod.  
  
_"Awesomesauce! We're going to have so much fun, and now you can officially be in on all the wedding planning! This is going to be great!"_  Patton cheered.  
  
Any doubt Virgil had regarding his answer was wiped away after seeing the way Patton beamed in delight. Virgil might not be as enthusiastic as Patton, but Pattom was right- This was going to be 'awesomesauce'.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...I believe this will be the last chapter in this installment. I'm already working on the first chapter of the next one, which I plan to post tomorrow. Also, I will be going on vacation for a few days after my birthday on Tuesday, though I hope to get a few chapters written ahead of time so I can post them while I'm on vacation as I have in the past. Either way, thank you so much for reading, and hope to see all of you in the next installment!


End file.
